Hanging By A Moment
by closetromantic07
Summary: Hating weddings, the missing groomsman ditches his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]
1. Chapter 1: Desperate for Changing

**Summary:** Hating weddings, the missing groomsman ditches his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

 **A/N:** Hello, everyone! This is my new story, inspired Lifehouse's song, "Hanging By A Moment", with the chapters titled after the lyrics. It is AU this time as I venture on different headcanons for my favorite GALS! pair. I hope you enjoy this one! Thanks for reading in advance, and please leave your thoughts!

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" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 _ **Desperate For Changing**_

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The venue is set: white lace linens covered round glass tables, each holding eight dinnerware sets of crystal wine glasses, appetizer, main course and dessert plates and their corresponding utensils, and table napkins expertly folded as if they were origami paper, and a vase blue calla lilies that matched the blue curtains draped over the big window panes around the room and the blue lights that fell from the ceiling in about two feet like rain the set the ambiance. There was a small stage at the front of the room ready with a microphone and a white screen that, for the past half hour, had been showing pictures of treasured moments of the couple of the hour, synced with love songs easy to the ear.

She gives the place a once over. The guests are flowing in and the round tables were filling up one by one, each arriving guest seated to their nameplates. _Right on schedule_.

It wasn't a big gathering since it was mostly composed of close relatives, friends, and co-workers—it wasn't the actual wedding yet—but she loved throwing intimate gatherings the most because it always created the most beautiful events concepts from her. The feeling that she is able to create something beautiful for an important moment in a person's life that they'll be able to remember for the rest of their lives is what makes it so gratifying, at least for her part. So, she likes everything to go exactly as planned.

"It seems like all the guests are in." She speaks over a small microphone attached to her ear while she scans the room, satisfied with the attendance of the guests. "Alright. The hosts can start now."

From the back of the room, she sees her staff instruct a corn-haired woman in a long black gown and a blonde man in a black coat and tie come up the stage with their respective microphones.

The blonde, who turns out to be the best man, greets everyone for coming to their friends' engagement party and congratulates the lovely couple on getting engaged.

The woman, on the other hand, starts off with a loud greeting, and from the couple of times she's interacted with her—because she's the maid-of-honor—she has discovered that this was just her usual personality, and, once you get passed the feeling of boundaries being broken by her strong personality, she turns out to be a very genuine person. She makes a joke about the groom, her brother, on how Miyu, the bride, wears the pants in the relationship, and the crowd laughs, but then she adds a sentimental touch by saying something about how their love is inspiring.

They didn't keep the introduction long because they soon cued a surprise video montage that they made for the newly engaged couple, and Aya instructed her staff to dim the lights and play the video. And it's not like she hasn't watched videos like these before, granted, the pictures of choice of the maid-of-honor and the best man were of the embarrassing variety, but it always gets her every time seeing the journey that a couple has gone through to reach the stage they are at.

When the video was over, the guest were invited to help themselves to the buffet located at either side of the hall and choose from a selection of pork, chicken, fish and vegetable dishes, and that the program will resume after dinner, so Aya starts to go around checking the food stations to make sure that there was enough for everyone and that proper portions were served.

It was about thirty minutes into eating their dinner that the male host earlier came back to stage with a few announcements.

"Good evening, everyone!" He greeted with the same level of enthusiasm as he did earlier. "It's me again, the best man—that's Yuuya for all you single ladies out there. How's your dinner been so far? Great? Well my co-host is already on her third serving so I assume it must be." The crowd laughs along and the corn-haired woman can be seen shouting something from the table to the right of the stage with her mouth still full of food. "What's that, Ran? There's still food in your mouth—It's best you chew them fir—Oh well I guess that's what happens when you talk with your mouth full. It's okay, you're still cute, anyway." He teases before resuming talking to the audience. "Anyway, before the bride- and groom-to-be come up the stage to give their thanks, we will have a few words the groomsman, because my best man speech will have to wait until the wedding."

The crowds clapped and cheered, and dozens of eyes scanned the room for the said groomsman to stand and take the stage.

"Calling Mr. Rei Otohata, groomsman!" The host maintained his wide grin while looking around the room. "I know your speech isn't as important as mine but now is your moment to shine! Come up the stage!"

But there was no sign of the said groomsman and the grin of the host started to falter as the guests were starting to whisper questions as to who and where the groomsman was.

"Where's the groomsman?" Aya whispered in her microphone, a hint of annoyance present in her voice as she started walking from the back of the hall to near the stage, all the while turning her head in all direction to find signs of the said groomsman before realizing she's actually never met him yet. "I thought you had eyes on—bathroom? Then go check!"

She sighed upon reaching the stage, the blond host looking at her and giving a shrug and a apologetic smile.

"Well, since Rei seems to want to wait until the wedding to give his speech," said Yuuya, trying to save the situation. "We will now give the stage to one of Miyu's college friends and a bridesmaid."

The guests clapped as a petite redhead took the stage, obviously nervous since she probably thought she had more time before she had to give her speech. Nonetheless she was able to pull through (despite her initial stammer), drawing out some laughs from the crowd from a couple of jokes and ending her speech with a typical love quote from some movie or novel.

The bride- and groom-to-be then took the stage, hand-in-hand and with smiles that reached from ear-to-ear.

"Good evening, everyone!" The bride-to-be was the first one to speak. "Thank you all for coming, Yamato and I are lucky that you are all here to celebrate this special time in our lives."

Miyu looks to her husband to continue with loving eyes, and he smiles as he takes the microphone from her hand. "If you don't already know by now, you're probably in the wrong party," he jokes. "I have asked this woman, the woman of my dreams, the love of my life, to marry me. And I am fortunate enough that she said yes. Crazy, right?" He looks into her eyes as she squeezes his hand. "And while my friends will tell me I'm crazy for getting married, well, I tell them what they're missing soon enough."

And the crowd hisses in cheers and whistles, calling the groom-to-be to kiss his future wife, and while they both blush into shades of pink, they willingly oblige.

"Thank you, everyone, once again for coming to this engagement party." Yamato turns to face the crowd. "Drinks will be served in the bar, enjoy yourselves for the rest of the night, and we'll see you all in the wedding!"

The guests clap and cheer, and some head to the bar for a drink while some approach the couple, giving their congratulations or bidding the farewells. And it's usually at this point in an event where Aya can breathe easily knowing there won't be much for her or her team to do that to wait until the time of egress so they can clean up before heading home. She takes off the microphone from her here because she knows her staff will not need much instruction from thereon, and she takes in the sight one last time.

She finds an exit in an open arched window, and it led to a stoned balcony facing a small garden. There were lamps on the sides of the balcony that were now lit up, illuminating a garden decorated with hydrangeas, purple, and pink and blue, covered with droplets of water the rain left behind a few hours earlier. At the center of it all was a fountain made of stone that had already begun to be eroded, and yet the water flowing from it shone beautifully under the moonlight.

Taking in the sight, she takes off her high heels using each foot take the other shoe off, ignoring the fact that the cold stone floor might be completely dirty from the fallen leaves and the unswept dirt, and she leans over the balcony letting her arms rest on the rails, and her weariness dissipates momentarily as she lets herself imitate the calmness of the night sky.

"Parties are just dreadful, aren't they?"

The sudden spoken words that came from a low and deep voice startles Aya, causing her to turn around to find its source. She's surprised to see a man sitting in one of the steel benches, his arms spread behind it, and one foot over the other. But she's even more surprised at how she didn't even notice him there when she walked into the balcony, and he must have been there a while she figures from the two empty bottles of beer by his foot and another he was holding with his left hand.

Then again, it might have been because of his black suit and dark brown hair that he had probably blended into the shadows, making her fail to notice him and his piercing eyes.

It takes her a while to register his question because his dark eyes were very distracting as they stared at her, and when he moves his eyes from hers to her feet, she realizes what he meant.

She shrugs, blushing, while she unmindfully tucks on leg behind the other as if trying to hide it from his sight. "Not at all," she says. "It's too much fun that my feet are now sore."

"Ah," is all he says as he takes a gulp from his beer.

She doesn't say anything either, instead she deduces that he must be a guest of the party from how he dressed and yet she has a hard time remembering him from the party in spite of the many times she went around the venue during the event while making sure all was going smoothly. Somehow she finds herself appreciating his features the longer she stares at him.

The space beside him is free, but she hesitates taking it and so she places both hands flat on the balcony, and she pauses readying her self by kneeling oh-so-slighty then jumps backwards so she can sit on the cold flat surface. She struggles a little getting her whole butt seated but she wiggles what little part of her body she had on the surface until she could sit comfortable.

From where he sat, he watches her, bemused. "So," he finally says after she catches him staring at her. "Are you from the side of the groom, or from the bride's?"

"Neither," she responded.

He raises an eyebrow urging her to explain.

"I organized the event," she said as a matter-of-factly, puffing her chest and crossing her arms in a defensive manner.

He mouths an 'ah.'

"So you're the wedding planner," he declares pointedly.

She narrows her eyes at him feeling offended at the tone by which he just uttered his words. "Weddings are among the events I organize."

He notices the hostility in her voice so he waves his hand in small movements. "Oh, I wasn't trying to insult you or anything. I just—how do I put it nicely," he pauses while he thinks before giving up, shrugging, "—hate weddings."

It was probably in the nonchalant way he said it, or in the way his eyes looked empty when he did, that made her turn from offended to curious as to why he would hate weddings.

"I'm not offended," she lied, blushing as she did, but she figures that he probably wouldn't notice in the dimly lit balcony, and she swings her feet back and forth like a little girl on a swing to make herself seem unaffacted. "But it does make one curious as to why one would hate weddings." She leans her back to the balcony, placing her elbows on the stone railings.

He doesn't say anything, but the question didn't make his mood turn south either, so she figured she didn't cross the line that much. Instead, he cranes his neck as if inviting her to take a guess.

She obliges. "Maybe you're one of those playboys who don't believe in marriage, forever wanting to be a bachelor."

He raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"Well, you kind of look like one," she shrugs. "Maybe all of your friends are slowly getting married so you have this feeling that they're being taken away, tied down, and they have no more time for you."

This makes his chuckle slightly, and she notices just how handsome his grin makes him look. His reaction makes her blush again, and she feels annoyed for feeling that way.

"Much as your analysis is thoroughly thought out and completely feasible, it might maybe just be because I don't like weddings and there is no deeper philosophical, psychological meaning into it."

She raises a perfectly arched eyebrow, not buying the way by which he brushes off her guesses, but she doesn't press any farther knowing that he's probably not going to tell her anyway, not having a reason to do so.

So they stay there in silence once more as they listen to the music that was playing inside the halls where the remaining guests continue to enjoy themselves with what's left of the event completely unaware of what was happening in their own little world by the balcony. The noise that was muffled by the slightly open window was the background music, the comforting darkness and the silver moonlight was the party, and the quietness of the night was their calm.

The third bottle that he was drinking was finally empty by the time he finally started speaking again.

"So," he began.

Her gaze was torn from the moon to his.

"How was the party?" He asked, and the look she gave told him that she didn't really understand his question. "I mean, from your point of view, wedding planner."

She considered for a moment. "Well, I guess as an event, I would call it a success. Personally, I find the couple so adorable and genuine, which makes me more excited to work on their wedding." She smiles as she says these things. "Everything went on smoothly today—well, almost everything."

"Almost?"

She shrugs. "Remember a while ago when the best man called one of the groomsmen for his speech, and he was nowhere to be found?"

He cranes his head and lets his cheek rest on a closed fist. "Let me guess: he was nowhere to be found?"

"I was so annoyed! How could he go missing at the time he was supposed to give his speech? He is a groomsman after all, it's his friend's engagement party!"

"What a bastard," he says.

She nods absentmindedly. "If he couldn't give his speech or didn't plan to, then he could have told us ahead of time."

"Absolute piece of shit that guy." She nods again in agreement.

A few seconds after, she lets her shoulders fall and she sighs guiltily. "Well, let's not talk shit behind his back," she says after much thought, and for a brief moment, she sees his lips curve into a grin. "We don't actually know why he didn't show up. And I guess it didn't do any damage to the program anyway, so I can probably let him go for that. I will still have to meet him for wedding preparations. Sorry for the rant, I just hate it when things don't go according to plan."

"Ah."

"What are you doing out here anyway?" she remembers to inquire when he was putting his empty bottle of beer down on the floor along with the other empty bottles.

He stands up and starts walking towards her direction, and as he comes closer, she becomes more aware of his features—chocolate brown hair with matching warm brown eyes, a defined jaw line, and he was tall with broad shoulders. Before she realizes, he was so near that she thought he was going to stand in front of her. But he didn't, and he walks past her to take up the space to her left when he leans into the balcony. She looks at him and he looks at the fountain and the moonlit water.

"I suppose this seemed like a good place not to be found."

She tilts her neck to the side and looks at him confused, but he merely shrugs so she doesn't press on.

It was then that she realizes that she didn't catch his name.

"Hey," but he doesn't turn to look at her, and neither does he respond. "What did you say your name was?"

He coughs a laugh so small that she couldn't tell if he actually laughed or not so she looks at him confused. "Did I say something funny."

He looks at her and his lips create a small, but noticeable, smile and it only confuses her some more.

"What?" she asks finally, a little annoyed at the lack of response that she was getting.

He shrugs as he withdraws from the balcony to stand in front of her.

"Actually, I didn't say what my name was," he says. He extends his hand in front of her before continuing. "Rei Otohata, the bastard, piece of shit groomsman."

The name instantly rings a bell causing her to freeze at his casual introduction, blushing furiously, and instantly feeling as if the ground should be swallowing her whole at this point.

He grins at her reaction. "Don't worry, I am probably everything we just talked about, I'm not offended."

She swallows nervously, still unable to extend her arm to return the handshake, and he realizes this so he withdraws his hand. And when her senses finally come back to her, she covers her mouth instinctively as if doing so would take back what she had said about him earlier.

"I'm so sorry!" She was afraid to say something even remotely embarrassing after everything she had already said such that her voice had become muffled by her hands that were still over her mouth. "Oh my god, that was so embarrassing."

He must have found her very amusing at this point judging by the way he chuckles. It was short, and it was low, almost breathless, and she might have not recognized it as such were it not for the way his eyes brightened—or it could have just been the moonlight, she wasn't really sure.

On the other hand, she doesn't feel all that amused with herself as she props herself from where she sat, bare feet hitting soiled stoned ground. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Otohata! I shouldn't have—"

"Rei," he cuts her off, and she looks at him surprised. "You can just call me Rei."

She opens her mouth, but then she closes it again just as quickly. She opens it again after rethinking what she was going to respond, however, before she could do so, someone else had come out to the balcony calling Rei.

"Yo, buddy!"

It was the blonde who hosted the engagement party peering from the window, opening it just enough to his upper body can fit through. He must have drank a fair share of alcohol from the way he was smiling from ear to ear, cheeks completely flushed, and his walk a teeny bit wobbly. Rei turns around to see his friend and acknowledges his presence with a curt nod.

"Come back inside, the gang's taking group shots to celebrate! Stop sulking and join us!" His speech was a little slurred but not enough to make him incomprehensible, and he swings his arm toward the inside for emphasis.

"Hn," he replies. He puts his hands in his pockets and starts walking toward his inebriated friend who was already gesturing him to move faster. "Don't be annoying, I'm coming."

With his back turned from her, she watches his retreating figure, suddenly finding herself puzzled by the entire situation. And she was sure she wanted to say something, but it was caught in her throat, and when he's finally reached his friend, about to enter the party halls, she finally manages to say, "I'm still very sorry!" but his reaction she'll never know because he enters inside not bothering to look back at her.

With the party finally bidding goodbye to its last guests, Aya had already began packing the last of the rented equipment as well as the reusable decorations along with her staff, and she makes sure that they are well instructed as to what to do with them. When she is satisfied with herself, she gets her personal items securely kept in a room behind the stage and heads to her car in the parking lot.

As she reaches her car, but before she enters, her phone starts to ring. And recognizing the caller ID, she smiles to herself as she swipes right before putting the phone in between her ear and her shoulder so that her hands can open the car door.

"Hey, babe. Can you hold on—" With slight difficulty, and a little clumsy moments, she enters the car after she opens it, putting her bag and other held items on the passenger seat and putting the key in the ignition. "Okay, sorry about that. That party just finished, I'm heading home now—Yeah, I'm not tired enough to drive—I told you, I don't need you to pick me up tonight, I know you have an early meeting tomorrow to prepare for.—Yes-Yes— _Yes,_ I promise. I'm hanging up now, I love you."

Smiling, she doesn't wait for him to respond knowing it will just be more scolding about her staying at the party so late when she can leave her people to do the egress portion of the work. But Aya being who she is, and her boyfriend already knows this, she likes to micromanage every detail of her work, and for her, that's half the fun. And she can probably say that she particularly doesn't regret staying for the duration of _this_ party.


	2. Chapter 2: Starving for Truth

**Summary** : Hating weddings, the missing groomsman ditches his speech. The events organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

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 _"Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _Starving for Truth_**

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It is the stream of light that escapes the narrow opening of the curtains of his bedroom window that wakes him up, and boy, was it painful to wake up. There was a throbbing in his head, and a piercing ringing in his ears that was sure to make him go deaf soon if he doesn't make it stop. Without sitting up, or opening his eyes, he reaches out trying to find the source, and it takes him a while to find that cellphone that was just on the other half of the bed that he wasn't occupying.

Someone is calling, he sees when he opened his eyes, but it was too blurry to tell whom, so he slides that green blob and puts the phone to his ear. He realizes, however, that it wasn't the ringing that was causing the throbbing in his head even though the piercing wave ringing in his ears had stopped.

"What do you want?" he groans in what he hoped to be a tone that made the caller on the other end ashamed they called so early in the morning.

"Why are you so grumpy?" the caller says, unfazed at his tone. "Is Yamato at your apartment?"

"Stop shouting," he grunts bringing the phone out of the reach of his lobes whenever the caller spoke, recognizing the voice to be of the newly-engaged Miyu. He imagines she is because the splitting sound her voice makes causes him to press the balls of his palm on his temple. "And how would I know? You just woke me up. And stop calling so early in the morning."

"It's nearly noon," Miyu answers as a matter-of-factly.

"What?" he says, disoriented, the fact of the time of day not completely registering.

"Never mind," she mumbles figuring it doesn't really matter. He can hear her sighing on the other end, his auditory senses overly elevated. "If he is there, tell him to call me, Rei. And take some aspirin for your hangover, and some brewed coffee too."

"Hn."

He manages to throw his phone to the side, not really caring where it falls, wanting to go back to sleep immediately regardless of the time. And he was planning to, until a painful yet tingling sensation hits him on his leg.

The feeling of pins and needles made him cringe, and he wonders what the hell was causing this pain (as if his headache brought about by the six shots of Jack Daniels he got himself into mixed with the beer he drank the night before wasn't enough). He tries to raise his leg but then something heavy was pinning it down. Deciding he'd rather risk the headache the movement of sitting up would cause him than not finding out what was keeping his leg pinned, he sits up slowly, pulls the blanket off and finds a familiar blonde lying on his stomach, sprawled on his bed and over his leg, whose mouth was slightly open enough to drool on his sheets.

Annoyed, he kicks the sleeping fellow with his free foot, regretting the instant action as the blood came rushing back to his leg. The said fellow rolls off of him, and being so close to the edge, falls down to the floor with a loud thud. This woke him, and if his groaning is any telltale sign, then he must have a much worse a hangover than Rei. Even better, Rei thinks, since that friend was the source of the terrible one he's experiencing right now.

"Shit," Rei hisses, the loud thud ripping the inside of his head. He's never going to believe Yuuya again when the latter calls a shot 'one for the road,' although really, he should have known better himself.

Clad in his boxers and a tee he must have changed into before going to bed (and finding it impressive he even managed to change into something, unlike his friend, considering he barely remembers how he got home), he makes his way to the kitchen to get himself some much needed aspirin.

He's surprised to see a drunk Yamato flopped very uncomfortably on his couch and the jacket the groom-to-be wore on the floor, next to his necktie. Ah, he thinks, so Miyu's hunch was spot on. Women's intuition, he surmises. But he doesn't bother waking him up having other personal matters to deal with at that moment.

He has brewed some coffee and has taken an aspirin by the time the blonde finally joins him still garbed in his dress shirt and pants from the night before, albeit disheveled and crumpled in most places. He has the aspirin bottle ready on the dining table for his friends to take. Yuuya sat groggily, massaging his temples before taking a pill out and downing it without any fluid to help, groaning and sighing all the while, making known the massive headache he was experiencing.

"You know," Rei begins to say, and he realizes his voice must be too loud for the newly awakened Yuuya from the way the blonde winces when he starts talking, but needless to say, he didn't care. "I can understand how you got us all drunk. I can also understand that you fools ended up spending the night at my place. What I don't get is how you ended up on my bed."

Yuuya groans. "You begged me."

Rei smirks in spite himself. At least his best friend still maintains his humor no matter what state of mind he's in. "Do you always do what people beg of you?"

"Only when it's you, and you're in your boxers," Yuuya grinned mischievously, eyeing Rei from head to toe, which does nothing to make Rei uncomfortable. "Oh, and I guess also when Ran—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," groans another half-awake man who was struggling to get his grips together.

"You don't even know if I'm talking about your sis—"

"Stop!" He shouts, slowly getting up from the couch. "Oh god—my head. I shouldn't have shouted— and I don't need to know anything about my sister's sex life."

All the while, Rei hands Yuuya a cup of freshly brewed coffee before returning to his spot by the kitchen counter and finishing his own cup of coffee. "You're the one bringing up Ran's sex life."

Yamato manages to sit up and finally able to turn and face the two other men. "See, _this,"_ he gestured around the room with both his hands, "is the problem with being friends with your sibling's friends."

"Says the guy who's been banging his sister's best friend since she was in college," says Yuuya in a singsong voice, unable to hide his amusement when Yamato is left red and speechless.

"I'm starting to think you're losing your moral ascendancy over us, Yamato." Rei held up a cup of coffee meant for Yamato as he tries to entice him to get over to the dining area.

The older Kotobuki sluggishly makes his way to the kitchen. "I never had one over the two of you anyway, your moral compasses broken since the day you hit puberty." He took the cup of coffee from Rei before settling down beside Yuuya, popping an aspirin for himself. And they drank their coffees in silence for a while before Yamato brings up another matter. "By the way, I'm still not amused by the fact that you totally ditched the speech you were supposed to give me and Miyu last night."

Rei winces at the reminder. Joke all they want about Yamato's seniority, or the fact that he dated a woman at a time when it could have been considered cradle snatching, or how he's always the big brother no one ever listens to, but the truth is they do. They go way back to middle school while Yamato was in high school, and he was the big brother they never had. And so, in spite of all the teasing, Yamato will always be an important person to the two men, and they the same to him.

So he knew that Yamato must be upset about him being a no-show when he should have been on stage to make a testament to two of his closest friends' impending marriage.

"Don't get mad at him, Yamato," says Yuuya, a small grin forming by the edge of his lips. "He was busy flirting with the event organizer last night."

Rei raises an eyebrow confused until he finally remembers whom Yuuya was referring to. Yes, he remembers the raven-haired woman who was candid enough to take off her shoes on the dirt-covered balcony while unwittingly ranting about him to him.

He shrugs. "She came into the balcony, we started talking. I wouldn't exactly call that flirting."

Yuuya waves a hand ignoring him. "You wouldn't know flirting if it hit you in the face."

Rei narrows his eyes at him.

"Oh yeah?" Yuuya dares. "When was the last time you tried hitting on somebody?" Rei falls silent. "See?"

"That's not the point," says Yamato in his authoritative voice that makes them cower a little when he uses it, or at least, it used to. "It was important to me—to us, that you be part of our wedding, to give us your words of encouragement and support—"

Rei snickered. "No offense, but I think I'm the last person you want to be giving you words of encouragement about getting married."

"Look," Yamato said softly this time. "I know it's been three years since, you know," and he knows he's entering into very sensitive territory.

"Since she left?" Rei finished for him, his tone even and his demeanor calm.

"Rei—"

He has told them before that he's okay, that he already accepted that she left him, and that they shouldn't treat him like he just lost the most important person to him in the entire world. But still, every time she comes into the conversation, his friends start to walk around eggshells, afraid they might trigger some buried feelings he has. What his friends don't understand is that the more they talk to him like _that_ —like he's the poor little man whose world crumbled into pieces the day she left him, the more he feels the empty hole she's left, and the harder it is for him to come back to a time when she wasn't his world. And that was—is—all he needs, to feel normal again.

"I'm sorry," Rei says sighing, catching both guys off guard at his sudden and unexpected apology. But he needed to stop Yamato before he goes into the pity voice he knows is reserved for him, and it being his wedding season, there was a lot of that voice to go around. He doesn't need to be pitied, he just wants his normal. He supposes, however, that it was his fault anyway for not doing the toast. "I was wrong for ditching the toast, and how important that was—is—to you. I just got—sidetracked, by beer, and just the whole thing."

Yamato's expression softens. He knows that it was big of Rei to apologize, and even if Rei didn't, he would have understood.

"I promise I'll sit through your entire wedding without downing the mood, well, not that much."

Yamato narrows his eyes at him in disbelief.

Rei doesn't like the feeling that Yamato doubted him so he continues, "Also, tell me how I could make this up to you."

There was a glint of slyness in Yuuya's and Yamato's eyes and immediately he regretted offering, but it was too late to back out now. He needed to make it up to Yamato.

"Actually," says Yamato. "Yuuya's going out to be in and out of the city during the months leading up to the wedding." This Rei knew. "And Ran's going to be busy with the opening of her shop, so," and he started dreading the next couple of words. "I need you to help out with the wedding details, at least those that were delegated to Yuuya and Ran."

Yuuya tries to stifle his laughter at his friend's predicament knowing fully well how much the chocolate-haired man will hate this, but the irony was just too much for him and he is unable to hold his laughter, thus earning a glare from his friend.

Rei sighs, defeated. "Fine, what do I have to do while he's gone?"

Yamato shrugged. "There's a bunch of things lined up, but for the most part you'll just be coordinating with Aya, and Miyu will also be with you most of the time."

"Aya?" he asks.

"The wedding coordinator, remember?" grins Yuuya, his voice telling. "Oho. I guess you'll be continuing whatever it is I interrupted last night."

Rei rolls his eyes. "There was nothing. I can even barely remember what happened because of all the alcohol you made me drink."

"She is very pretty—"

"Shut up."

"Anyway," Yamato intervenes. "I'll give her your number and Miyu will call you about it too."

Suddenly, Rei remembered something he was asked to do earlier on. "Oh yeah, Yamato, your fiancée called earlier." Yamato raises his eyebrow, waiting for Rei to continue. "She was looking for her bitch."

Yuuya laughed, spilling the coffee he just sipped even though he tried to cover his mouth with his free hand. Yamato gives him a look, but Rei just smirks it off, catching the bottle of aspirin thrown his way by the elder man who was feigning offense from the teasing.

The punishment, all things considered, he thinks, is not as bad as it could be. He'll only have to proxy for Yuuya during the times that he'll be out of town, and the best man's job can't be that hard, right? (He thinks this is so because of personal experience and also because all the movies point out to the maid-of-honor handling all the important duties.) So he doesn't give much fuss when Miyu asks him to deliver some important documents for the filing of their marriage certificate to the organizer's office since she still had to meet with the wedding dress designer.

After his office hours, he makes his way to the address he was texted, pleased to find that it wasn't such a far away walk from his workplace. He arrives at the small building situated in one of the less busy streets and on the ground floor, he sees the small signage of the events organizing company stuck on the glass door. There was a cream curtain that prevents him from seeing if there was anybody inside, but there was an 'open' sing hung just below the signage with makes him proceed anyway.

A bell rings as he pushes the door forward and he finds himself in a quaint little office of white walls, a maroon-carpeted floor, a cream-colored sofa set upon immediately entering, and an office desk at the end of the room. On the walls hung framed pictures of a sweet sixteenth birthday party, a fiftieth anniversary celebration, and a wedding reception among others—a gallery that also serves as the company's resume for walk-in clients. He takes a longer look at the wedding reception photo, it was taken before any of the guests arrived, and it showed the dinner tables set out on the beach, and the candles laid out on the floor, and paper lanterns hung above the open venue as if to add to the stars of the night.

It strikes him for a moment, as if he'd seen it all before. But before he lets himself dig deeper into his thoughts, he shakes his head and turns away.

He gives the room a once over. The wall partitioned another area of the office that Rei could not see from the reception area, which makes him think that the office is bigger than he thought it was. Seeing as there was no one on the office desk he took a seat on the sofa, which he found to be a lot cozier than it looks, placing the brown envelope with the documents on the coffee table that had magazines and albums on top of it.

"Sorry, I'm coming!" shouts a voice from the other side of the partition.

A small blob of dark hair slowly peeked out of the wall, coupled with a pair of eyes that caught the gaze of the chocolate-haired guest, watching her as she slowly inched her way out of the partition. She raises an eyebrow, and there was a momentary flicker in her eyes as if she had come to the sudden realization of his identity. And the flush on her cheeks tells her that he's correct.

She claps her hands together. "Ah! Right. Mr. Otohata!" She makes her way to the couch and he stands to greet her. "Miyu told me you were coming over with the documents."

"It's Rei," he corrects immediately while they sit down.

She blinks, a little slow on the correction. "Ah, right. Sorry," she smiles shyly.

"Here are the documents that Miyu needed to bring here." He hands the brown envelope he brought with him and she takes it.

"Thanks, I'll be filing these tomorrow—"

"So you also do these kinds of works for your clients? I mean, aside from organizing the actual event." His voice was casual, not intending to be offensive, but just curious in an almost dispassionate tone.

"Well, we're a small company so we kind of do the full service if our clients need it," she answers truthfully. "We have to stand out somehow. Also, these are the kinds of things couples ask about when they have their weddings planned. It's a plus for us that we know these details too."

"I suppose most engaged couples don't know really know what they're getting themselves into after proposing and after saying yes."

She laughs gently, finding the humor in his words. And there's a sense of relief that washes over him when he hears her laugh so genuinely, that makes the corners of his lips curl unconsciously.

"I suppose so," she says. "They should have read the pamphlet first, shouldn't they?"

"Or the many warning signs down the road," he adds. "You know, those ones that read 'caution: don't proceed'."

And there she goes again, her laugh graceful and almost contagious.

After she recovers from her laughter, she looks thoughtfully at him with her dark orbs, and he finds himself wondering what she was thinking before she speaks her thoughts out loud.

"But still, out of all the kinds of events I plan, weddings are my favorite."

He looks at her curiously, and it's probably the look he gave her that made her go on.

"You know when the bride and the groom are saying their vows, you know, that magical moment when they look into each other's eyes and just know that they've made the right choice," she says, and there's this glow in her eyes as she speaks that keeps him from interrupting. "When the words come out of their mouths and their stuttering on their nerves because they're so overwhelmed with feelings that just—and then they start to tear up and—ugh, how do I say this—like you know," she gestures. "Then their words just flow out of their mouths like it's coming from their hearts, and it's just—it's just the most beautiful thing."

He stares at her, half-amazed, half-refreshed.

When she catches him staring, she blushes, retreating into her timid and ladylike form. "Oh, I just said all of those out loud, didn't I. Really, you should stop me when I start going on and on about random things."

He chuckles. "It's fine. You are quite amusing." She blushes, and he's not quite sure if he complimented her or offended her. "You're a hopeless romantic, aren't you?"

"Guilty as charge." She scratches the back of her neck absently, showing her slight embarrassment. "My boyfriend always frowns once I get into one of my 'episodes', as he'd like to call it. He's the more pragmatic type."

"Ah," he says. "So you must have planned everything about your wedding by now, haven't you?"

She nods, hesitantly, blushing at the truthfulness of it. "But I suppose I'll need a proposal before I can plan a wedding." Her laugh is soft, almost contemplative.

He notices her smile fade a little.

"Oh!" It was as if a realization just hit her. "You did say you hated weddings didn't you?"

He nods.

"Why?" She asks as if it's not the most personal question in the world. "I remember you not really answering last time."

"If I remember correctly," he says. "There wasn't a question to answer. You were merely throwing guesses around."

She blushes at the reminder of the conversation they had that night.

"And the answer to that," he says, grinning. "Is a story for another day."

And she's about to say something before another person interrupted them peeking from the partition, much like how Aya looked like a moment ago.

"Aya! I'm done cooking. You have to taste this! We can eat—" The voice came from a blond-haired, dark-skinned man, whose face turned into a curious smile upon laying his eyes on Rei. "Oh, we still have a client!"

"Mr. Oto—I mean, Rei. This is Tatsuki, one of my partners," Aya introduces as Tatsuki, wearing his yellow apron, comes closer to greet Rei. "Tatsuki, this is Rei, one of the groomsmen of the Kotobuki wedding."

Rei stands up and holds out his right hand, while the other guy cheerfully grabs it for a fervent shake. "Hello! You can call me Tatsukichi."

"I really wouldn't—"

"Join us for dinner! It's looks like you haven't eaten—"

"Tatsukichi! Rei might be busy—"

"Now, now, come this way."

But before either of them could protest, Tatsuki had already brought Rei to the other side of the partition, revealing a much bigger area allotted to a kitchen. The kitchen was big, those types used for businesses with the large baking oven, a walk-in freezer, two large working areas, and a big refrigerator that looks newly bought.

He scans the room, in awe as if he had just chanced upon a hidden passage way. His look of surprise causes the raven-haired organizer to explain.

"We do catering services too," she says. "Actually, Tatsukichi used to do a small scale catering business before partnering with me and Mami. This," she gestured to the space around them, "used to be his office."

"But," he interjects. "Small scale catering won't pay for the rent, so Mami came up with the idea of having an events business. That way, I don't have to give up this space and they can help me pay for the rent."

He turns to look at her. "Mami?"

"Oh, she's our other partner. She basically funded us," she smiles.

"You might meet her too," says Tatsuki while setting up another place on the island table in the middle of the room for Rei. The space doubles as the prep table and their dining table. "She's supposed to be dropping by today."

As if on cue, the bell chimes signaling the arrival of another person.

"Ah, that must be her." Aya goes back to the other to check if she's right. When she comes back, she brings along with was a golden haired woman around the same age as they were, statuesque in her high heels. She had her coat over one of her arms—designer he presumes, and her leather hand bag around the other. She an air of sophistications about her, Rei noticed.

He had already taken one of the seats around the island table by the time the Aya came back, and her companion's eyes immediately fell on the unknown brown-haired man sitting rather uncomfortably in the presence of strangers after being dragged almost quite literally to an unexpected dinner.

"Who's that guy?" her quirky voice says without any subtlety whatsoever.

"That's one of the groomsman of the Kotobuki wedding," Aya explains whispering. "He was bringing documents over when Tatsukichi invited him for dinner."

"Ah," was all she says before going over to where the men were, the corner of her eye sizing up the brown-haired man, walking in stride, her movements almost make it seem as if she was bouncing. She stands beside him, tall and grinning, her golden hair shining behind the light and she extends her hand. "Hi, I'm Mami. I've heard quite a bit about you. I didn't realize all the groomsmen of that wedding were just so… yummy-looking."

"Yummy…looking?" He raises an eyebrow but she doesn't explain. Instead, she takes her seat and so does Aya when Tatsuki comes with his baked chicken marinated in tequila and lime with some ginger and garlic sauce to go with it, and his mashed potato.

Hesitant at first after hearing that the chicken was marinated in a strong, treacherous alcoholic beverage, his opinion changes drastically upon taking his first bite of the dish.

His eyes grow wide, and the blonde man grins widely, proud.

"Yup. I knew it was good."

He nods approvingly while he chews, savoring the strong yet deep flavor of the chicken.

"Huwaaaw!" Mami exclaims. "I really love this mix, Tatsu! I wished you put more tequila though."

"You should open up your own restaurant," says Rei, taking a forkful of the mashed potato.

"That's the goal." He brings out a bottle of wine. "But I need to save up for it."

He takes another bite, this time with a swig of the mash. "Are you catering Yamato and Miyu's wedding too?"

The response was an enthusiastic nod. "The Kotobuki wedding? Yup, that's the plan! But the menu hasn't been planned yet."

Rei didn't want to admit it, but at least now there was something to look forward to in that wedding (aside from two of his closest friends tying the know, of course). They ate through the rest of the dinner chatting, with Aya's partners trying to get to know Rei, and Rei avoiding the personal questions, mostly pried by the curious yellow-haired beauty, by directing them at the other two who are too happy to talk about themselves when given the chance.

"Come by here sometimes, I'll feed you."

"Feed me?" Rei bristled at the idea of treated like a dog.

"He'll cook for you," Aya corrects her friend's ineptness of expressing himself in words. "And Tatsukichi, you shouldn't just invite random people into the office for food—"

"He's not a random person—"

"Stranger—"

"His name is Rei—"

"I meant clients—"

"He's not a client either." Aya closed her mouth, unable to retort. "Don't be stingy, Aya. I cook more than enough food for all of us."

He turns to Rei who's already trying to figure out how he got himself into this situation, and told him, "I love to experiment a lot, and more often than not they turn out good! So I usually cook meals for Aya and Mami. So come by sometimes, or I can text you and you can come by, alright?"

"I probably shouldn't impose—"

"Nonsense!" declares the blonde man. "Come one, give me your number."

And normally he wouldn't have agreed to anything that Tatsuki said, to eating lunch with strangers, to promising to drop by when he's free, to eat experimental dishes of aspiring chefs, but then he held his phone loosely on his hand, and let the other man take it from him, to type in his number and exchange it with his.

"Alright, you got my digits and I got yours."

The women can be heard sighing in the background.

"Come back soon, okay?" There was a goofy smile plastered in his sunburnt face.

Maybe it was the keenness and sincerity in Tatsuki's eyes that makes Rei half-heartedly nod his head. Then again, a free meal for a working man in his twenties sounds like a very good proposition considering that the price of restaurants can be a pain in the wallet. Plus, there was something about this crowd that was new, different, and, as he later finds, very refreshing, that the idea of coming back is becoming more and more appealing.

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 _I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Share your thoughts!_


	3. Chapter 3: I'm Closer To Where I Started

**A/N:** Thank you for all the kind reviews, it really keeps me wanting to write, albeit I may not always have the time. Please leave your thoughts and reviews after reading this chapter, thank you! Enjoy!

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 **Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

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" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _I'm Closer To Where I Started_**

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It's been a month since they let the brown-haired groomsman into their little circle, and since then Tatsuki has convinced the man to have lunch in their office thrice now, each time to try out a new recipe Tatsuki had come up on the fly. It turns out that having your office a few blocks away and new friends with events-organizing-slash-catering business isn't so bad after all.

Much to Aya's surprise, Rei's company isn't as awkward as she thought it would be. Sure he's often quiet, letting others talk as he would listen, and seems to divert a lot of personal questions from himself, but he did carry a good conversation, and he's pretty knowledgeable about the most random of things, which is good for Tatsuki because he'll talk about anything and everything. However, Aya can't help but remember that one statement from the night of the Engagement Party, about him not liking weddings. There were so many times that she found herself wanting to ask him about it, especially when Tatsuki is out of earshot, but she feels that four meals and text exchanges about his friend's wedding still doesn't entitle her to ask.

Actually, the Kotobuki wedding has taken up most of her time, as compared to her other projects, which was fine by her since weddings are her favorites. There are just so many things to be done when it comes to weddings, yet she loves this kind of grind.

"Okay, thank you." She puts down the phone and jots down some numbers on her planner before checking off an item on a list. She stretches her arms upward, arching her back while doing so.

"You seem pretty pleased with yourself," noted Mami who was sitting back comfortably on the couch, legs crossed and fingers glued to her mobile phone.

"The wedding venue is booked, as well as the reception hall!"

"Oh, you were able to find a place to the bride's liking?" Her eyes doesn't leave he phone so she doesn't see the raven-haired wedding planner shake her head. When she didn't hear a response, she looks up to her business partner who was smiling from ear to ear.

"We got the Empire!" the wedding planner shrieked.

"What? I thought it was fully booked for the next two years?"

Aya shook her head, grinning. "It is! But a weekend opened up for seven months from now, perfect for the time frame of the Kotobuki's, so I booked it. It's their first choice of venue too!"

"That's amazing! They'll be so happy."

Aya nodded in agreement. "I'll call her tomorrow and let her know the good news."

"You're doing so well planning this wedding, Aya. I'm really impressed, you really have a knack for this."

Aya smiles. "Thanks, but honestly, I'm just more inspired than usual planning this wedding… I don't know."

Mami eyes her suspiciously, hesitant. "This wedding? Or just _a_ wedding in general?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Mami shrugs. "It just seems to me that maybe you're so excited planning this wedding because you've been waiting for the opportunity to plan your own."

"What?" Aya says in disbelief. "That's not true—"

Mami raises an eyebrow. "You've been waiting for a proposal from Takato for the longest time."

She bit her lower lip guiltily. "Fine, maybe a little true."

"And I've been telling you, Aya, that man is not going to propose to you any time soon." Her words came out more exasperated than she had wanted, but Mami was so sure that her words spoke the truth. This wasn't the first time they had this conversation, and in fact, Mami thinks they've been having this conversation one too many times.

Aya frowns, saddened by her friend's lack of support. "So maybe he didn't propose that time he brought me to have dinner with his family like I thought he would, but maybe tonight—"

"He's not going to propose tonight, either—"

"He got us a reservation in the Sky Lounge—"

"He likes his dinners fancy—"

"I saw a receipt from—"

"He probably closed another huge account and got you new ear rings, like he always does." Her friend frowns even more. "Look, Aya, I know guys like him, I've dated guys like him, my dad is just like him. Career first. He's not going to want to settle down any time soon."

She grew quiet, which made Mami feel a little guilty. "Why do you hate him, Mami? Yes, he's a workaholic," she says, closing her planner, and piling up the brochures, palettes, and magazines on her desk. "But everything he does is all for our future together."

Mami sighs. "I don't hate him, Aya. He's a nice person, and I know he loves you. I just," she pauses. "I just think that the both of you just see your futures differently. You see it so near, and he sees it so far."

"That doesn't have to be a bad thing."

Mami shrugs. "I suppose."

"It doesn't," she says with a little more conviction. "We just have to find our middle ground, that's all."

"And all I'm saying is that it's not supposed to be that hard." Mami sighs. "You've been together for like—what, six years? He always says you'll get married after he reaches his goal, but when he does, there's another goal and another one after that."

"He just wants us to be financially secure, Mami."

"No, he wants to be successful, and for him, who knows when he'll be satisfied with his success."

Aya feels slightly offended. "Don't say that. I know he seems to be all about work these days, but the future is part of the plan, _our_ future. His job is really cutthroat, so he has to stay focused."

"I'm not picking a fight, Aya." Mami sinks to the couch, hugging a throw pillow within her reach. "I'm your best friend, and I'm just being honest with what I see." Aya lets her shoulders fall, feeling a little defeated. "You know that I've always been good at reading what people want, and by knowing that I can also tell what they don't want."

"And you can see he doesn't want to marry me," Aya says weakly.

Mami looks at her friend's eyes, seeing the fear that's looming in her orbs. She feels a bit guilty for making her friend feel that way, but Aya has always been soft. It took her so long and so much convincing to leave her previous job and start the events planning business with Mami and Tatsuki because she was scared of the trying something new and different. It's not like her boyfriend had been supportive of her career change either. Mami had always been the strong one of the two of them, and also the more adventurous.

"I can see that he doesn't want to marry anyone, yet." She added the last bit in order not to make Aya feel worse, but she still does anyway.

The blonde stands up and walks toward her friend, goes behind the desk and beside her chair. Aya turns to look at her with crestfallen eyes hurt with brutal honesty pleading that she take it all back. But instead Mami bends down a little and stretches out her arms to pull her friend in a tight embrace, the arm of the chair making it quite uncomfortable but she bears it.

"I'm sorry, you know I never say any of those to intentionally hurt you," she says but receives no response. "I just hate it whenever you expect a ring and then you come back empty handed and disappointed, it hurts me too."

Aya hesitates but finally gives in and leans in toward Mami's shoulder. She sighs, "I know."

They've done this a hundred times over spanning the lifetime of their friendship covering anything and everything, and so she knows that they're just always looking out for each other. She knows she'd be the same if it were Mami in her place, less the outright bluntness, but just as protective.

"I will be the first one to congratulate you if he does propose, you know that right?" she asks softly, squeezing her friend in her arms even more. She feels her friend nod. "In fact, I'll lay down a red carpet, get some of those gigantic party poppers that shoot confetti all over the place and even get a whole orchestra to—"

Aya chuckles, "I know, I know, silly girl."

They both know their friendship will be fine before they said their goodbyes. Aya went on to prepare for her date and when she was done, she took a cab to the building where Sky Lounge was located, makes her way to the ivory lobby and to the elevator that directly goes up to the expensive restaurant.

The elevator door opens and she, along with other fancily clad people, get inside. The walls were glass so one could see the outside, and by the time it hits the tenth floor, the view of the city becomes more prominent: lights from buildings, streets, cars, and neon signs, the dark night sky, the vague noise of bustling commotion. It continues to go up and the more one can feel that they are on top of the world. Aya supposes that it's that feeling, that view, and the experience that one was paying for if they were going to eat in the Sky Lounge given the absurd prices they charge for such small portions of food.

She has eaten there quite a few times before, never on her own or by her choice. Her clients and bosses from her old job were the executives of multinational companies and Fortune 500s, and will not settle for just a burger joint at the corner down the street, so she knows that she cannot just show up at the restaurant in her work clothes. Knowing that, she changed into a simple, little black dress that ends just before her knees, not too fancy, not too casual, added a few accessories and matched it nude heels. She checks what floor they're in, they're almost there, and the thought instinctively makes her iron out with her hand imaginary creases on the skirt of her dress.

A bell-like sound marks the reaching of the 64th floor and after the elevator carefully stops, the doors slowly open in order to let the customers come inside. Upon entering, they guests are treated to a classy and spacious interior. The rectangular room was well lit, the longer sides of the room glass panes that allowed them to view the city's beautiful skyline, and at the end of the room led to the open-air bar.

Amidst the crowd, she easily spots his chestnut hair neatly combed and waxed into place, not a single strand astray. He picked a spot beside the window, perfect, she thought. She walks toward him until he finally spots her approaching. He smiles upon seeing her face, and seeing him lights up hers. He stands up to pull the chair opposite his.

"Hi, babe," she greets him as she's greeted with a kiss on the cheek. "Did I make you wait too long?"

He shakes his head. "Not at all."

She takes the seat he's opened up for her, grabbing the menu to take a look.

"Oh," she hears him say as he sits down. "I already ordered your favorite."

Before she responds the waiter comes to their table bringing a bottle of champagne that he had already ordered as well. A _Bollinger_ _Vieille Vignes Françaises,_ she takes note.

"What are we celebrating?" she asks knowingly. He only ever orders champagne when there was something good that happened to him (he thinks it's much more of a celebratory drink as compared to other alcoholic beverages), just like Mami predicted, she thought, feeling a little disappointed at her friend's accuracy. She tries to make herself feel better by thinking that the night is young, there could be other things to celebrate.

He gives her a wide grin. "I got the Iron Global account! I'm pretty sure that promotion is mine."

Upon hearing his words, her mood slightly dampens. Quickly, however, not letting him notice her momentary disappointment, she smiles back. "That's great, Takato. You've worked really hard for that account." And that is true.

"Thanks, babe!" he says earnestly.

They go back to eating with some small talk as they coursed through, telling each other how their day went, how Aya had to rush to the market earlier that day because Tatsuki forgot about the garden lunch party their were handling the following day, how Takato's lunch went with the American investors, and whatever else comes to mind.

"So," says Takato, after taking a bite of the decadent chocolate mousse cake drizzled in strawberry syrup. "How's the big wedding you were planning going?"

She's pleasantly surprised he brings it up. Now and then, Aya mentions the Kotobuki wedding during their usual daily conversations, especially since planning it has made her excited to work even more, about how the bride-to-be has so far loved the theme she's thinking of, how the maid of honor has great taste in flowers, how disappointed the groom-to-be was when the band he wanted to play for the reception was going to be on tour during tentative dates for the wedding, or how Tatsuki seems to have formed an unlikely friendship with one of the groomsmen. But he's never shown interest in her short work-related anecdotes before.

"It's going smoothly, actually. I just booked the venue that the bride wanted, so that's great."

"I see," he says, taking another bite of his dessert.

"Once we do an ocular, I'll have to start preparing the designs for the decorations, and I'm really looking forward to that!" Her eyes glinted for the first time that night.

"Looks like you'll be getting busy for this wedding," he surmises smiling.

"But I think it'll be the great kind of busy, you know," she asks rhetorically. "And if this wedding is successful, I'm almost sure—no, I'm certain we'll get even more clients for wedding events. Isn't it exciting?"

He doesn't answer immediately, but only looks at her with searching eyes. The longer it took for him to respond, the quicker her elation at being able to talk about her work goes down.

"You don't think it's exciting?" she asks worriedly.

The sudden change in her mood makes him scramble for a reply. "No, no, of course not."

She eyes him suspiciously, frowning at his inability to sound convincing.

"It's great that you're enjoying what you're doing now," he says immediately. "It's just," he trails softly, unsure.

"It's just what?"

"You just sound like you're really not going back to your old job," he finally says, sighing.

It takes her a while to really understand what he's trying to get at, but when she does, she leans back and crosses her arm, opening her mouth to say something before closing it again.

"We talked about this, Takato," she says, her tone weary. "I told you, I really like what I'm doing now."

"And I understand that, but you can't blame me for hoping that this is just a temporary thing, a phase—"

"It's not," she snaps. He closes his mouth, surprised.

He frowns. Leaning forward, he extends his arms and tries to reach out to her, but she doesn't budge from where she was. "Come on, Aya. I was just thinking a little more practically. You were doing fine in the company, one of the best analysts even, with very generous compensation, it just doesn't make sense to throw it all away."

She doesn't look at him, annoyed because she knows it's true. "I wasn't fine, Takato. You knew that. That company, that job, those people—it was so toxic."

"That's why I told you to take a sabbatical, not render your resignation," he sighs.

She crosses her arms even tighter, holding down the tear that she feels is about to fall from her eye. "I don't understand why you can't just accept that this is where I am right now?"

Her tone gives her away, and he knows her from all the years that they've been together that he's probably pushed her too far. "It's not that I don't understand, it's just that I think you're were doing so well and you're just going to throw all of your hard work away. I just don't want you to regret it in the future."

It wasn't like she hasn't thought about that before because she has. Countless times. And she still continues to ask herself that every day. _Is she doing the right thing quitting her job? Will this events planning venture work out?_ But it's not like she has her answers all figured out. She knows he has a very valid point, but she just wished she got a little more support from him.

"Look," his voice is gentle while he takes a moment to pick his words carefully. "I'm not trying to pick a fight. I'm sorry, babe."

She doesn't respond, still feeling a little attacked.

"Aya, I will always be here for you, no matter what you do. But I'm just scared you're throwing away a great future for you. I can't help it if I worry about you, I love you."

She softens a little hearing his words, loosening the way her arms are wrapped around her body.

He extends his right arm again, opening his palm toward his direction, inviting her to hold his hand. Slowly but reluctantly, she lets her hand meet his. He holds it tight, almost reassuringly, and he smiles.

"Forgive me?"

She looks at his chestnut eyes, searching, finding the sincerity in them. She sighs, "Always."

He squeezes her hand, and she follows suit giving him a small but knowing smile.

"I know what will put you in a better mood," he says cheekily all of the sudden, raising her interest.

Momentarily forgetting the argument they just had, she arches an eyebrow suspiciously when he lets go of her hand and he reaches for the pocket on his black jacket hanging behind his seat. He takes out something small, but she couldn't tell what it was just yet as it was completely wrapped around his hand.

A crooked smile, which she loves, forms on his face but her eyes returns to his hand, following the movements of his fingers slowly unwrapping the little items. As each finger let go, she saw hints of the color violet, and slowly it took shape into a small little square box. There was this knotted feeling growing inside her, and her mood just turned a full one-eighty as she stares at the velvety thing.

He opens it, and the box makes a snapping sound as he does. What she saw left her breathless. There before her revealed a beautiful two-carat princess cut diamond engagement ring, atop a band that crisscrossed around while it formed a perfect circle. At that moment, she was thinking that she had not seen anything more beautiful in her entire life. It felt like a minutes before she let out a breath, speechless still, waiting for him to say the next words that typically follows the displaying of the ring.

She looks at him, expectant.

He smiles. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, so beautiful," she nearly croons, easily agreeing.

"I told Arata it was the perfect ring," he says proudly.

She nods, "It's perfect, Takato."

"I said it was worth every penny."

"I'm sure it is."

"She's going to love it."

"I do— wait, she?" She doesn't initially register what he says, the words taking her by complete surprise.

He looks at her funny when he catches the change in her tone. "Uh yeah. Mariko. Arata's girlfriend, remember?"

She does. Arata and Mariko are her former workmates at her old company who have been dating for the past two years. They used to have double dates together, although she always felt like they were more Takato's crowd than hers. She hadn't had a lot of chances to see them since she started with the events planning business, but it's not like there was a lot of effort on either side.

Catching her breath quickly, she nodded. "Yeah, of course." She straightens out the imaginary crease on her dress while she thinks of something else to say. "So," she clears her throat. "He's proposing to her?"

He nods. "I'm keeping the ring for him in case she accidentally sees it among his belongings," he says as a matter-of-factly. "Crazy, isn't it? He's proposing to her. Arata of all people!"

She manages an awkward chuckle. "Yeah, I can't believe it either."

"I mean, our money was always on him to be a bachelor for life, but would you look at that. He must have met his match with Mariko," he says, bemused.

"I guess so," she says quietly.

He closes the box and pulls it towards him before putting it back in the pocket of his coat. "I told him to think it through, you know?" He laughs. "Gosh, I just really can't believe they're getting married."

Something suddenly irks her. "Why did you tell him that?"

"Huh? Oh you mean that he should think it through?" He shrugs. "Dunno. I just think it's a big decision, don't you?"

"Well yeah, of course. But he wouldn't propose if he didn't think it through, babe."

"Still, you know, a lot of people decide to get married but they don't really know what they're getting into," he says before taking a sip from his wine glass.

"He's a smart guy. He probably realized it the next logical step from their relationship, you know. I mean, I think two years is enough to know if you want to be committed for life or not, don't you?" the words flowed out of her mouth before she realizes what she was saying, but she lets her voice stay firm.

He raises an eyebrow. "Um, yeah I suppose. I mean, I can't say for sure," he says thoughtfully. "Hey, are you okay?"

She sighs, a little crestfallen.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she lies. "Why don't we finish up this dinner? You still have a flight in five hours."

The sudden change in topic alarms him somewhat. "Are you sure?"

She nods, giving him a soft smile.

He doesn't press on and takes her word for it. They eat the rest of their meal in peace before he had to take a call from his boss to talk about tomorrow's client presentation for which he will be flying out of town in the wee hours of the morning. She ponders while she waits for him to finish his call, hating that Mami was correct yet again.

When he returns, he apologizes that he can't drive her home saying that his boss wants to go over some documents back at the office. She says she doesn't mind, she didn't really want to be driven home by him at that moment.

She takes a cab when they part ways, and she doesn't really remember what she told the cabby but when he stops she realizes she must have asked to be brought to her workplace because they are now in front of a red-bricked building with a glass door covered by a cream curtain. She pays the cab driver and gets off unsure why she was there, until she notices a light from inside the office despite the sign saying 'closed' and remembers that Tatsuki had said he'd be in the office all night cooking for tomorrow's event and trying on new recipes while he's at it.

Knowing going home alone would only make her feel even more dejected than she was, she decides to stay and accompany her dear friend, and maybe eat some more. She finds the door locked and uses her own keys to open the same, pushing it to make her way in while the chimes mark her unexpected arrival.

The room pertaining to her office was not lit, but light was coming from the other side of the room where the kitchen was. A voice she recognizes to be Tatsuki's reacted to the sudden opening of the door, but she realizes that the words she hears was not directed to her.

"Hold on, I'll go check who it is," she hears him say from the other side of the room.

A bush of blonde hair could be seen peering from the partition, carefully checking if she was an intruder of sorts. It takes him a while to register her while she waves at him.

"Oh, Aya! It's you," he says, pleasantly surprised. He comes out fully from the partition, apron-clad and a big smile on his tanned face. "I didn't know you were coming back to the office."

"Hey, Tatsu," Aya greets before adding, "actually I wasn't planning to. But, here I am." She laughs while she takes of her coat and lays it, along with her purse, on the couch.

If she seemed out of her element, he was generous enough not to give it any attention. But what caught hers was the presence of a certain brown-haired man slowly appearing behind her chef-friend.

"Hey," he mutters.

"Mr. Oto—I mean, Rei, you're here!"

The astonished tone of her greeting quickly receives an explanation from Tatsukichi.

"Oh yeah, I invited him to come over for dinner so he can try some of the food I'm making for tomorrow," he admits. "Hope you don't mind. I invited him to come after his work, and he did."

She chuckles, amused at their apparent sudden friendship. "A little too late for that, don't you think?" Tatsukichi shrugs happily at the rhetoric. "Anyway, what you got cooking back there?"

"You haven't eaten?" he asks. "I thought you went to that fancy restaurant with Takato—her boyfriend," he turns to Rei on the latter part, clarifying the identity of Takato which he didn't seem to be curious about anyway.

Hearing his name causes her to pause a little, but then quickly recovers in order to respond. She notices that Rei had been eyeing her movement as well. "That was a cab ride ago," she says just as a bell-like sound hits the room.

Tatsuki gives her a strange look, and she feels relieved that the brown-haired man cannot see the chef's face from where he is. He sighs knowingly, then makes a crooked smile. "Then you're just in time," he signals her to come over to the kitchen before going on ahead of the two to take his creation out of the oven.

She takes it as her cue to follow him, thankful that he didn't say anything else, and not noticing that Rei was waiting for her to reach where he was. When she reaches him they walk together to the kitchen table.

"Rough night?" he asks out of the blue, startling her with the unexpected curiosity.

She shakes her head. "Not at all."

He doesn't immediately respond, so when she looks at him, she finds him eyeing her with his deep brown searching eyes. "I see."

Something about his tone doesn't sit right with her, and with the night she was having, it annoys her. She frowns at him but he doesn't say anything and instead looks away as they reach the island in the middle of the room where Tatsuki seemed to have prepared his meals.

"It's true," she lies.

They take adjacent sides of the island, and from where she took her seat she can see Tatsuki take out a small disposable foil container and set in on the table beside the oven where his prepped ingredients were all orderly arranged, ready to be cooked for tomorrow's event.

"Okay," Rei says casually placing his elbow on the surface and leaning his cheek against his folded palm.

Narrowing her eyes, she responds, "There you go again with that tone."

"What tone?"

" _That_ tone. The one that says you don't believe me," she says in a lowered voice, not wanting Tatsuki to hear her.

Rei smiles, amused at her being so defensive.

"Well, is it?"

"Is it what?" she asks, annoyed.

"True?"

"You keep making me repeat myself."

"If it makes you more convincing, then go ahead."

She pouts. "What makes you so sure I'm lying?"

He stares at her as if his deep brown can look into her soul. "Well, you're here and not at home, aren't you?"

She opens her mouth to say something but finds herself out of words, tongue heavy with how accurately his was able to read her. He stares back into his eyes, in an almost challenging way to compensate for her lack of words but the longer she dwells in his eyes the more she realizes that there was no judgment in them, no joy in being correct, but rather something else, something she can't quite place. When she finally finds something to say, Tatsuki arrives with his freshly baked savory spinach lasagna transferred into a serving plate with three forks on the side and places it on the middle for their immediate reach.

He claps his hands in glee. "Alright, let's dig—ah crap, wait, I'll go get us a knife and plates."

When the blonde is out of earshot, Rei manages to say, "It's okay, I know what that's like."

She eyes him, blushing at the way his eyes gaze at hers. "What?"

"Having to pretend that you're not having a rough night."

But before she has a chance to react to his statement, a statement she was caught off-guard with, Tatsuki brings back the promised knife and plates, and for the rest of the night they eat and chat about mundane things and Rei acts as if the conversation didn't happen.


	4. Chapter 4: I'm Chasing After You

**Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

A/N: Sorry for the late update. Been really busy with school. This chapter has been lounging for a while now and I finally got around to finishing it. Hope you enjoy! Don't forget to leave your thoughts. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

* * *

" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _I'm Chasing After You_**

* * *

He thinks he must be dreaming when his barely woken senses sees a pair of full lips through half-lidded eyes, gorgeously pink and a little open, breathing in and out, almost in sync with his own breathing. How peaceful, he thought, barely conscious of everything else in his surroundings.

Closing his eyes again and snuggling into the thick comforter, he tries to pull the same over his naked torso to shield himself from the cool air coming out of the air conditioning unit , but the plushy blanket wouldn't pull up. He tugs harder and something goes over his legs entangling itself with his limbs as the comforter is set free to cover his entire body. Whatever it was, he thought, it was smooth, and silky and soft, and was rubbing itself nicely over his own leg.

Thinking about what that could be sprang him into consciousness, opening both his eyes and simultaneously lifting the covers to see what could be dangling over his legs. He sees another leg, shapely and long, over his own. He traces its origin to the bare hip and a round butt, his eyes following the naked back of what was apparently a woman lying on her flat stomach on the same bed where he lies, finally reaching the shoulders where golden hair fell messily covering the neck, and then the face.

He's unsure what he feels, surprised, yes, confused, even more. Then he takes a look at himself, and finds that he is in the exact same state. Trying to remember what happened the night before hurt his head quite a bit, which meant one thing: alcohol.

The thought process was halted when the lady beside him stirred, opening her eyes slightly to meet his, and she looked grumpy.

"Stop lifting the cover, Yuuya, it's cold!" She knows his name. She tugs the comforter toward herself, wrapping her body with it and almost making herself look like a burrito, her head and tussled golden hair finally coming into view.

"Ah, right," he realizes finally, after seeing her face more clearly.

Last night was becoming clearer and clearer now that he realized whom he was laying in bed with. He came from a drinking session with his college friends and enjoyed a little too much, it was someone's birthday (he can't remember which one at the moment) and that meant free alcohol, and he remembers Rei, in particular, leaving too early (after midnight is when the fun starts, after all, that wuss), and he getting a text from her asking if he'd want to come over, and he gladly obliged, all inhibitions gone at that point.

Her flat wasn't that far away from the bar where they drank. He's been there a couple of times before, and each time he would be impressed at how tasteful her apartment is decorated. She had a liking to modern style, but gave the place a warm feel with some brown accents. But what captured his eye was her extensive music collection of old vinyl records; he didn't think she was the type to be into older music.

He scratches the back of his head, thinking of what to do now that he's awake, so he sits up and moves his legs over the side of the bed and grabs some of his fallen clothes scattered on the floor. He puts on his boxers, then his jeans.

"Hmm," he hears the woman from the other side of the bed murmur, and though he doesn't see her, he can feel the bed move in a way that tells him she's already sitting up and getting dressed as well.

"Leaving already?" she asks in her sultry voice.

He laughs nervously as he looks for his pants, "Um, yeah, I think I should leave."

She turns to look at him, smiling coyly as he searches for his discarded clothing. "Nonsense, have breakfast first, or at least some coffee."

"Um," he hesitates, until he hears his own stomach growing. She laughs at his display. "Well I guess my stomach would like that."

She gets up from the bed and takes the purple silk robe hanging by her bathroom door to wear, and walks out the room to the kitchen. Yuuya follows suit and finds his button up atop the white couch just beside the woman's shirt. He quickly grabs it and puts it on as he watches her twist her golden hair into a bun and ties it in place.

He makes his way to the island counter by the kitchen and sits on one of the bolted rotating seats in place. He stretches his reach to grab two plates from the stack over at the end of the counter and sets them down for two, and then he does the same for the spoons and forks, two a piece.

"Won't you be a dear and start brewing us some coffee too?" she asks sweetly, and he willingly obeys, standing up and making his way to the other end of the kitchen where the coffee maker was on the tabletop, just beside the two-door metallic refrigerator to quickly make a brew good enough for them both.

He reaches for the shelf above and grabs two mugs from the array of different drinking glasses, ready for pouring. While waiting he opens the right side of the fridge and takes out a pitcher of water and sets it on the counter.

"I see you're finally getting the handle of things around my apartment," she pleasantly smiles, peering from where she was cooking over the other side of the counter. "Markedly better than the first time you stayed over for breakfast, lost little puppy you were, so confused and clueless." She takes out two newly fried eggs and places them on a plate by the side of the stove.

He laughed apologetically. "To be honest, I still wake up confused sometimes. I'm still not used to this whole… um—"

"Casual sex thing, I know, I know," she waves the spatula around as if it's a wand casting a spell. "It's not like it's a taboo word, Yuuya."

"No, that's not it," he says immediately. "I just… Well, I'm not always sure how to… or what I'm…"

She turns toward his direction, giggling. "Aren't you cute, trying to not offend me. Don't worry, I'm just playing you."

"Oh," his expression falls slightly embarrassed.

"Are you always this innocent?"

He sighs laughing a little at the irony. "Actually, if you were to ask any of my friends, I'm that person in the group that throws the dirty jokes around. And yet here I am, all of the humor stripped from me—and, see, normally I would follow up with a joke about being stripped naked but, nope. Coming up empty."

While he was explaining, she finishes cooking some strips of bacon and putting them on the same plate where she placed the eggs. She places them on the counter with the plates, and then grabs a loaf of bread, along with two differently flavored bottles of jam, from the fridge, passing by him but not interrupting him. As she makes her way to the island counter, he follows suit to the opposite side and taking a seat.

"Performance anxiety maybe?" she asks, and he looks taken aback by her query. "On the jokes, I mean, of course."

He shrugs as he takes one of the fried eggs from the plate and placing it on his. "I dunno. I suppose this no-strings-attached thing is just beyond my comfort zone." Using his fork he grabs a strip of bacon and takes a bite off the crispy piece of meat.

"So, who was it?" She places her elbow on the countertop and lays her cheek by her closed fist, and he only then notices that her bun was quite a bit messy, some strands of her golden hair loose by the sides of her face, but it still, he thought, looks quite good on her.

"Who was what?" he remembers to respond.

"The girl who broke your heart?" She raises a perfectly trimmed brow. "I mean, you don't suddenly go into casual hook-ups at our age unless a long-term relationship suddenly didn't go as planned. So," she trails with a sly tone in her voice as she takes a bite of bacon herself, "who's she?"

He was slightly impressed with her analysis, but he wasn't going to tell her that. "Do you always psychoanalyze your hook-ups?" He asks with a teasing tone, just to let her know that she didn't offend him.

"Them and my friends," she answers casually earning her a surprised look. "What can I say, I'm good at reading people." She gives him a playful wink. "You don't have to answer my question. I'm just letting you know that we can do other things aside from sex. Like eating breakfast, and talking."

After bringing up her friends into the conversation, he gauges whether or not to ask something he's been wanting to for a while now, and decides to just go for it. "So do your friends know about… you know, us?"

She looks at him and she wasn't surprised nor annoyed, but he can't read her reaction. She shakes her head finally before adding, "My friends don't really meddle into this aspect of my life, don't worry." He lets out a breath of relief, and she smiles at him playfully. "You don't want your friends to know that you're screwing their wedding planner's business partner?"

He's stunned by her frank questioning, and wasn't quite sure how to respond. Luckily, a subtle bell-like sound interrupts them and Yuuya takes the opportunity to not have to respond to a perusal of his personal life. He can feel her eyes follow him as he pours a cup of coffee for her and himself, the smell of the fresh brew giving him life. He takes a quick sip before returning to the counter, giving her the cup he poured for her.

"Thanks," she says before taking a sip of her own, the hot temperature of the liquid not appearing to bother her. They return to eating and she generously doesn't bring up the question again, minding her own as she scrolled through her favorite social media applications on her phone ritualistically as if it was her morning paper.

He takes a couple of more bites of the breakfast she prepared, minding his own phone in silence, just as they normally did the last couple of times he stayed over for an early meal. But this particular awkward was excruciatingly painful to bear, especially when he runs out of updates to scroll through on his phone.

Placing his phone down on its screen, he finally says, "I didn't mean to be dismissive earlier, you know, I just—"

"We should eat dinner tonight," she says, out of the blue, catching him off guard. He's unsure that she heard what he had just said since her gaze has not left her phone's screen.

Perplexed, his earlier train of thought was already lost. "Well, I do, in fact, plan to eat dinner tonight, just like any other night," he says slowly, eyeing her, but her eyes are still fixated on her mobile.

"There's this Mexican place downtown, it's actually a favorite of mine. They're having mojito night! I think it'll be awesome!" She takes a long sip of coffee before continuing. "So, what do you think?"

"About?" he asks, still confused.

"Mojito night," she answers looking up to finally meet his eyes.

He coughs suddenly, surprised. "You mean, like a date?"

Her mouth scrunches up into a frown. "I wouldn't put a label on it," she said shrugging. "I mean, it's just dinner and lots of mojitos, and then our usual… you know. Like I said, we can do other things other than sleeping together, like have breakfast or even dinner. And drinks are always _always_ welcome."

While waiting for him to respond, she takes another sip of coffee, but he remains still and hesitant. "If you don't want to, that's fine," she says casually, returning her gaze to her phone. "I have other friends I can drag to mojito night."

"No, it's not that I don't want to," he tries to explain, albeit she seems to have lost interest in the topic. "I just don't think we need to complicate things by going out together in public."

She sees him scratch the back of his head in a kind of dorky way that she couldn't help but be amused. "I wasn't asking you out, okay? Stop being all awkward! I just wanted to go to mojito night, that's all."

"Really?" he asks. "We're still all good."

"What?" she gasps, feigning offense. "You reject me for mojito night and you're still expecting that we're going to keep doing this?" she gestures the space between the two of them. "You think you can have your cake and eat it too?"

"What? Wait, that's not—" he tries to explain, unsure of what actually needs explanation.

She narrows her eyes at him, watching him become uncomfortable, before finally breaking into laughter. When she does, he's all the more confused, a recurring theme of the day. "See what I did there? That's what a joke is called. Remember what a joke is?"

She grins, and he couldn't help, despite the prank, but be amused. At the same time, he thinks that the sly grin looks quite sexy on her – again he probably shouldn't tell her that.

"Ha-ha. You're cute," he recovers, feeling a little more comfortable in spite of his self. The first time he met her, he couldn't really tell if he liked her personality (not that much of a personality was needed when pursuing the casual relationship they have, he figured), she reminded him so much of his ex: extremely extroverted, opinionated, and strong-willed. She didn't even know him at the time and already she went up to him and said he dressed like he was still in high school.

Taking it as a compliment, she gives him a wink before returning to her phone. He sighs, feeling as if he got more than he bargained for when he started this _thing_ with her.

A sudden burst of what sounded like a mariachi band playing the tune of a distinct television theme song surprises him, making him jolt slightly before realizing that the sounds were coming from his phone.

"That's your ring tone?" judgment in her tone.

He reddens, slightly embarrassed. "My friend and I, we tend to prank each other. Completely forgot he did this to my phone." She doesn't look convinced, and instead she tips her head, reminding him to answer his phone. He slides the green button to the right as he stands up to move to another part of the room so that he can speak privately.

" _Like the ringtone?"_ a deep, familiar voice asks from the other end of the line.

"How did you even—you know what, never mind." He sighs, shaking his head. "What's up?"

" _You coming with us to work out or what?"_

"Ah shit," he hisses.

He hears a snicker from the other end. _"You're with your mystery girl, aren't you? I guess you don't really need the work out, huh?"_

"What are you talking about?" his pitch a much higher than he'd want.

" _You should just introduce her to us,"_ the voice adds, ignoring his deflection.

"There's no one to introduce!"

" _Sure, and I just happen to be born yesterday."_

"I'll be right there, Rei. See you in 10 minutes." He doesn't wait for him to respond, not wanting to give him an opportunity for a witty reply he cannot retort.

He returns to where Mami is. "I have to go," he says. She looks up from her phone. "I have to meet up with some friends."

She smiles sweetly accompanied by a small wave. "Okay, see you."

"Uh yeah. See you," he says, scanning the room in case he left anything behind like last time. He doesn't see anything of his lying around. "Thanks for breakfast!"

He leaves in haste, as he still needs to return to his own apartment to grab some gym apparel lest he wants his friends to have proof of his secret nights out. It was a good thing his apartment was just a few blocks away from the gym making him less tardy than he otherwise would have been. Rei and Yamato already started their work-out when he got to the gym, Yamato on the press and Rei on the bike. They gave him a knowing grin when he arrived, although not really knowing what there was to know. He makes his way to the free bike beside Rei's when he notices Yamato approaching them, finished with his set.

"You sure you're not too tired for this workout?" Yamato teases, grabbing the water bottle Yuuya brought with him and taking a sip from it. "Wouldn't want you fainting from over-exhaustion."

"I rather think he needs the workout, Yamato," Rei says, as he continues to pedaling the stationary machine, grinning. "He probably wants to build up his stamina. Wouldn't want to disappoint."

Yuuya was never often on the receiving end of all the jokes. He narrows his eyes at them as he sits on the bike and starts to pedal, expressing his disdain at their jokes. "First of all," he says, beginning to pedal faster. "I don't disappoint."

The two best friends look at each other, smirking. Rei, admittedly, a little bit impressed with the come back. "Second, if you need proof, just ask your sister."

Yamato's amusement falters.

"So there is someone not be disappointed," Rei stating his main takeaway from Yuuya's earlier statements.

"I'll leave it to your imagination," Yuuya retorts, feeling a little bit more like his usual self.

"Look at you, being all mysterious and secretive," mocks Rei.

"Learned from the best," Yuuya tips off an imaginary hat toward his friend's direction.

"And Yamato here can't seem to reel back from your 'sister' comment," snorts Rei.

Yuuya takes a look from behind his shoulder to see a rather bothered Yamato. "Don't tell me you're actually imagining it?"

"What? No!" snaps Yamato.

Rei shakes his head in disapproval. "That's disgusting, Yamato."

"I'm not!" his tone defensive. "Wait, I thought we were poking fun at him?" He points to a rather amused Yuuya.

They both shrug. "The best way to deflect a teasing is to tease someone else. And you make it so easy, Yamato." The older of the men glares at the younger lads, annoyed.

In no time did they finish their workout, which they capped off with a hot shower at the gym. It was a weekend so they changed into something casual. The three of them then made their way to a local café near by to relax a little bit and chat before going their separate ways.

There was not a lot of the usual patrons that morning unlike that of a typical workday where bustling lines of customers wait for their daily dose of caffeine to wake them up ready for the day ahead. The atmosphere, coupled with the rustic ambiance of brick walls and open windows, was quite relaxing. It was a fine weather they have that day so they chose to sit outside around a small circular table under a wide umbrella, keeping them away from the direct heat of the sun but at the same time giving them some natural light.

They talked about wedding details, particularly Yuuya's duties and how Rei, as part of the deal, will have to cover Yamato for an upcoming wine taste testing, which, he concludes, shouldn't be that bad. Yuuya was also reminded that he had to help Ran with the program they promised to put together for the soon-to-be newlyweds.

"So, who were you with last night? And be honest this time," says a curious Yamato when he suddenly brings the discussion back to the topic earlier brushed off by their tardy friend.

"I was out with some of my friends from college, you can ask Rei, having a drink in a pub around the corner where I work," he says shifting uncomfortably in his wooden chair, taking a sip of his latte with the intention to make his self appear a little blasé.

The older Kotobuki clearly wasn't buying any of it. "You're not the best of liars, my friend. And I came by your apartment early this morning to pick you up and you weren't there. The guard by your complex said he didn't see you come home last night," he informs, eyebrow raised. "And you obviously weren't at Rei's—"

"Thank god," the other one mumbles.

"Okay, first of all, why are you going to my apartment early in the morning to pick me up?" Yuuya sounded genuinely bothered. "Stop it. Miyu will get the wrong idea," he adds. "Second, don't trust that guard. I caught him sleeping on the job a couple of times already."

"So where did you sleep in last night?" prods Yamato, ignoring the younger one's attempt to divert the conversation not wanting to be fooled once again with his deflection tactics.

"Not where, who?" corrects Rei.

"Why are you guys so interested in my sex life?" he returns the question, a little too loudly so the passersby can hear. "I'm really questioning your sexuality Yamato. I hope this isn't cold feet talking."

Yamato frowns, a little annoyed. He opens his mouth to say something but someone else speaks before he could.

"Cold feet? Already? Still a couple of months to go before the wedding, Kotobuki!" says an unfamiliar voice. It was coming from the entrance back to the inside of the café.

They turn around to see whom the voice came from and saw a chestnut haired man and behind him a slightly shorter dark haired woman, both holding a cup of coffee each.

"How's it going, Kotobuki?" he asks with a pleasant smile.

"Hi, Yamato," greets the woman, nodding to their direction, adding. "Rei, Mr. Asou."

"Ms. Wedding Planner!" exclaims a surprised best man as he stands up to shake her hand. "I mean, hi, Ms. Hoshino. And please, don't call me Mr. Asou. It makes me think my dad is around. Call me Yuuya."

She chuckles, slight red on the face, taking his hand for a shake. "Okay, Yuuya. And please, call me Aya if it's all the same."

"Ueno Takato, as I live and breathe," greets Yamato, getting up to give the fellow a handshake. "Surprised to see you with Aya here." He then gestures to the other two fellows with him. "My friends, Asou Yuuya and Otohata Rei." Rei stands up as well to shake Takato's hand. "Guys, this is Ueno. We were roommates during a student exchange program way back in college. Fun times, brother."

"Ha, fun times indeed, Kotobuki."

They grab two free chairs from the empty tables nearby and fit them into their little, and now quite cramped, umbrella. The two new arrivals took a seat, placing their cups among the others, Aya shifting to find a comfortable position with the unexpected gathering of sorts.

"I didn't know you were dating my wedding planner," says Yamato, pleasantly surprised.

Takato laughs guiltily, scratching the back of his neck. "I did know she was planning your wedding," he admits. "But I was quite busy these couple of months, I couldn't drop buy to surprise you. That was my bad."

Yamato shakes his head. "Not at all." He then turns to Aya who was caught taking an innocent sip of her latte. "And, Aya!" She almost spills her coffee, narrowly avoiding staining her white summer dress, when he calls her out. She turns to look at him wide-eyed in surprise. "Oh, sorry. But you should have told me you knew Ueno."

She daintily wipes her lips with a napkin that Rei hands over to her before answering. "It was strange to bring it up," she responds honestly.

"But wait, last I heard you were dating a financial analyst, or something like that," he says callously, too late when he realizes what he just said as he caught a glimpse of Aya's reaction. "Oh, I didn't mean to pry—"

Takato laughs, and his reaction was not quite what they expected. "Not at all. I'm still dating that girl."

Yamato's face drops. "Wait—what? Don't tell me—what?"

The funny look on Yamato's and Yuuya's faces made him laugh some more. He puts an arm around a still Aya. "Yup, still my girlfriend last I heard."

They all turn to Aya who gave a small nod, smiling. "Guilty."

"Oh," says the older Kotobuki.

"Wait, Ms. Wedding Planner is a financial analyst? Like one of those really smart ones in pant suits and brief cases that go to one of those big buildings up at the financial district?"

She clears her throat. "Was," she emphasizes, smiling. "Was a financial analyst." She feels the hand around her squeeze her arm a little, but she ignores it.

Rei turns his head toward her direction, eyeing her with subtle surprise, but she ignores it as well.

"Oh." Was all Yuuya could muster. "I'm learning surprising things about you today, Aya. Really surprised." He leans back on his seat while he reaches for his cup to take a sip, smiling.

"Wow, I thought you've always done events planning for a living," says Yamato. "Could have fooled me! You seem so experienced in this business."

"He's totally right, Aya," Yuuya chimes in. "You're doing a hell of a good job in events planning, so I guess that makes you really talented," he gives her a small winking, making her chuckle at the flattery.

She mouths a small thank you, relieved that the conversation topic ended where it did.

The arm around her is removed when Takato takes his cup to sip. "So, Kotobuki, I heard your dad is retiring soon."

"Yeah," he affirms. "I'm surprised that news reached you. Just a year or two, I think."

Sure that the topic had shifted from her she stands up, "All this coffee but no food. I'll go get us something to eat."

Their attention goes to her as she pushes her chair back and maneuvers around it. "Thanks, babe," she hears Takato say. She smiles.

She reenters the quaint coffee shop, heading straight to their chilled display of pastries and baked goods. She takes a look at them, crouching to make eye-level, and sighs, not _really_ looking at them. She closes her eyes for a bit, not realizing the foot steps making their way behind her.

"You sure do have a knack for making things awkward," an all-too familiar voice says.

She grumbles before standing straight to face him, frowning. "No, I don't."

He kind of enjoys the scrunched up look on her, her cheeks higher on her face, the wrinkle on her nose, and the creased forehead. With he thumb, he points back to the direction of their earlier company. "Exhibit A."

"That was not my fault," waving her hands for emphasis.

"And in Yamato and Miyu's party, when you kept ranting on about me? To me?"

"Your fault," she answers quickly. He raised an eyebrow challenging her to make her case. "You didn't tell me who you were. You made it awkward."

He snorts at her reasoning. "You never asked back then."

"You should have introduced yourself, it was the polite thing to do," she counters, putting a hand on her waist to make her look a little more authoritative.

"I did."

She was about to answer back but then she tries to remember if he actually did. He snickers a little when he catches her trying too hard to recall that night. She looks at him suspiciously, but it seems she still has yet to bring back to memory how their conversation went.

He approaches her and places his hands on her shoulders, surprising her. Then he spins her around to have her face the glass. "We'll take two slices of the apple pie, please."

It takes her a while to realize that he had just ordered for her, and that she completely forgot what she came back into the café for. He pats her a little on the shoulder as if calming her before removing his grip, and she feels herself flush a little from his unexpected touch, not really knowing why.

The cashier brings in a tray with two slices of pie on top of two small plates and a couple more, along with a number of forks and knives on the side.

He takes out his card before she could, and takes the tray from the cashier's table. She wants to offer some help, but she doesn't know if he needs it so she just follows him when he starts walking. He stops midway and turns to her.

"Do you still need more time?" he asks.

She looks confused.

"We can stay here a bit longer before going back," he clarifies, and now she understands what he's trying to say. She looks into his eyes, and she thinks it's the first time she's found those brown orbs so warm.

"How did you know?" she asks. He shrugs, hesitating to answer her. "I know," she says instead answering for him. "You also know what this is like."

It wasn't a question.

She smiles at him, warm and sincere, and even more thankful. She takes a deep breath, "I'm okay. Let's go back now."

When they come back with their tray of pastries, the other three fellows were engrossed in their conversation.

"You're as cheesy as always, Kotobuki," laughs Takato. "Even back then you would call your girl every day, and all you guys did was relay every single detail of what your did that day, it was disgusting to watch."

A feigned look of offense creeps up Yamato's face. "I wasn't that bad."

Yuuya could hardly contain his laughter. "I totally believe you though, Ueno. Yamato and Miyu would totally do that."

"Hey!"

"We missed a lot," Aya chirps in as she and Rei settle back into their seats, distributing the dessert plates around for everyone and laying the slices of apple pie in the middle of their small round table.

"Yamato was just telling Ueno the story of how he proposed to Miyu," Yuuya responds, still finding it hard to contain the laughter.

"That cheesy story again?" Rei says in his dispassionate tone.

"It wasn't that cheesy," defends Yamato. "Was it?"

All the three men nod without a second thought.

"I heard it from Miyu, and I think it was definitely romantic, Yamato," gestures Aya as she gives Yamato a reassuring smile before she takes a piece of the pie they just purchased. Yamato smiles back thankful that someone appreciates his manner of proposing.

"She's your wedding planner, she's supposed to find it romantic," argues Yuuya, earning his a small punch from the groom-to-be. "Ow."

"Anyway, let's save Yamato from embarrassment and casually change the topic, shall we?" chuckles Takato to which none of them protested. "How're your sisters, by the way? I remember one of them was always interrupting your calls to your girlfriend back then," he laughs at the memory. "Remember you guys were video calling and she suddenly grabbed the phone or something and hung up on you because she wanted to go to the mall already? You were furious because you guys weren't able to talk all weekend but she cut the call short."

Yamato's eyes grow as he recalled that time. "Yes, I remember!" But he laughs it out instead of getting mad. "That was Ran, she's my fiancée's best friend actually. Miyu and I met through her, if you could find the irony in that."

"Well, that explains her stealing the phone from your girl back then."

"Even your own sister can't stand how cheesy you and Miyu are," adds Rei who was casually taking a sip from his drink.

Yamato ignores his comment. "She's into fashion design so right now she's working for a named designer."

"I think I bumped into her a couple of days ago downtown. Is she still sporting that bright orange-y hair?" Takato asks.

"Was it around this short?" Yamato makes cutting like gestures with his hands just around his shoulder area and Takato, after thinking back to remember the detail, nods in response.

"I think so. But she was with someone, tall, broad built, dark haired?"

The sudden revelation has piqued the golden-haired bachelor's interest, although trying not to look too interested by sipping from his cup the contents of which have been cooled by the natural air. He awkwardly shifts in his seat, taking out a phone to check a non-existent message from his inbox by absently scrolling through.

"Oh, that could be the guy she's been seeing a while now," Yamato clarifies, taking a small piece of the apple pie, the crust slightly crumbling as he pierces through with the fork. He almost drops the piece when he hears a clanking sound beside him.

Yuuya looks at him apologetically, retrieving his phone from the table. "Sorry, it slipped." Rei arches an eyebrow suspiciously, and feeling his friend's gaze upon him, he decides to avoid making eye contact.

"I didn't know Ran had a boyfriend," says Aya. "Did she bring him to the engagement party?" Yuuya feels relieved that someone else had said something.

Yamato shakes his head. "I don't think so. But I know they've gone out on several dates now. Nothing official."

"I see," nods Aya.

Standing up from his wooden chair, making a dragging sound against the ground covered in gravel, Yuuya, feeling suddenly crestfallen, excuses himself from the gang. "I have to make a call." Hurriedly he makes for the door into the café far enough to be out of earshot, but does not enter, not before hearing them worry about him.

"Is he okay?" Aya asks turning her head in such an angle as to get a glimpse of the blond, a little worried at his sudden change of mood. "He seems a little—"

"He's fine, don't worry," says Rei nonchalantly.

He does not hear the rest when he puts the phone to his ear as it makes the familiar sound indicating that call was patching through, just waiting for the person on the other line to pick up. He knows he shouldn't be acting this rash, and he didn't really have the right to, but he couldn't help how he was feeling.

" _Hello?"_ the person on the other end finally picks up.

"Hey, so… uh it's me," he says awkwardly, scratching the back of his head as a nervous habit.

" _I know it's you, Yuuya, my phone said so,"_ she says as a matter-of-factly. _"Did you want something?"_

She seems annoyed, but he doesn't ask, afraid it might be his fault.

"Well, I've been… I'm…" he tries, and the person on the end is patient enough to wait until he forms something coherent. "I'm kinda craving for Mexican. Does your invitation still stand?"


	5. Chapter 5: Forgetting All I'm Lacking

**Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

A/N: Hello! Sorry if I don't update as fast as you guys would like. I try my best to write in between studies and other obligations. But I hope this chapter makes up for it. Thank you, if you're still reading this, for your constant support. I appreciate it very much. Please leave a review or give me your thoughts! Thank you! Enjoy.

* * *

" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _Forgetting All I'm Lacking_**

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It was an nearly a two hour drive from the city to the nearest vineyard, they had to leave early to get a head start, much to Rei's dismay, and took brunch on the road. They took two cars, one driven by the chocolate-haired groomsman and the other driven by the bride-to-be and accompanied by her wedding planner. It was an invitation from one of Yamato's father's close friend, a co-owner of the vineyard, to have a wine-testing for the wedding, and whichever they choose he would supply as his gift to the couple, a kind gesture that Yamato and Miyu could not refuse.

After an hour of driving, there was no longer any sign of urban infrastructure along the highway, the surroundings turned into fields of brown and green, and a few times they passed through bridges over wide rivers and several mountain ridges. It was literally a breath of fresh air when they rolled down the windows to feel the breeze on their faces and the warm sun on their skin. It was definitely a good day for a drive.

Pretty soon they drove past a steel arch impressed thereon were the words "Vino Cielo Estate" and ahead, surrounding the road, were acres of land, brown and green, divided into patches. As they drove further, they came across arrays of green bushes, carefully planted in rows that went as far as their eyes could see, and if they looked closely enough they could spot the purple bundles of grapes hanging from those vines held up by wooden rods.

"This place is gorgeous," beams Miyu as she alternates her gaze from the dirt road they were traversing to the scenery offered by the vineyard. "I can't believe I lived my whole life without knowing that there's a place like this just a couple of hours from my house!"

Aya takes in the countryside aura as well. "I know. It's amazing, isn't it?" They rolled the windows down to take in the fresh air infused with fruity scent.

It seemed like the road went on forever until they reached the front yard of a dark-stoned two-story house with a contrasting white-tiled roof and ran wider than any house they've seen in the city. A manor was more apt to describe the size of the place. From the outside they could see the jalousie glass windows open, letting the cool breeze through and into the house, swaying the white linen curtains behind them. In front of the wooden white door stood a middle-aged man dressed awfully nice in a navy blue coat and pants with a long-sleeved white button up underneath.

The three guests stepped out of their vehicles and were greeted by the man.

"Good morning, Ms. Yamazaki. I am Furuya Haruo, a sommelier that works for the Vino Cielo Vineyard, and Mr. Wakabayashi had asked me to entertain you and your company today as you pick your wine for your wedding," he introduces himself nonchalantly, with his hands behind his back and an upright posture.

"Hello, Mr. Furuya. Thank you so much for giving us your time, and thank you to uncle Mito for all of this," she says ecstatically, extending her hand for a polite shake. Wakabayashi Mito is not only a very rich man, and almost a brother to her father-in-law-to-be, but also someone who has seen Yamato and his sisters grow up and has always tried to be their 'cool uncle' whenever he got the chance. "By the way, this is my wedding planner, Ms. Hoshino, and one of the groomsmen, Mr. Otohata." Aya extends her hand first and is met by Mr. Furuya's for a handshake and Rei does the same.

"Well then, shall we begin?" Mr. Furuya opens the white door and leads them inside the house. An elegant foyer with a high ceiling accentuated by a two-tiered crystal chandelier and a wide carpeted staircase that circles around the foyer greets them.

The sommelier leads them further into the main hallway that goes deep inside until they reach the grand parlor which is decorated with expensive looking furniture, and they make their way past the sliding glass doors and outside to the deck overlooking the fields. On the right were stairs from which they descended, and they continued to follow a paved path until they were in front of what looked like a shed attached to the right wing of the house.

They enter the shed and immediately the scent of grapes fills the air. It was a wine cellar that they had just entered, filled with shelved of different bottles of wine, all expensive looking, and barrels, some with nozzles and most without, placed near the walls. They reach a space where in a table is prepared with various red wine bottles and white wine bottles, along with several wine glasses.

"Oh, wow," says Miyu in awe of the wide collection of wine. "This is impressive."

"We have an extensive collection here apart from the wine that this vineyard produces," Mr. Furuya explains as he proceeded to stand on the other side of the table. "What we'll be tasting today are some of the more popular red and white wines, as well as champagne."

Aya inhales the fruity and intoxicating fragrance of the various wines. "I've never done a wine tasting before," she admits, voice meek as her eyes scan the number of bottles before her.

"The trick is to just take a small sip of each sample," Rei says, picking up one of the wine glasses with the seeming intent of examining the same. "But with each sip carefully examining and distinguishing the taste of each wine."

The sommelier nods in approval. "That's very much correct, Mr. Otohata. We will only pour a sufficient amount in each glass, but you only need to make sure that you taste each one very well."

"I understand," nods Aya, a little more relaxed.

The bottles are arranged in three different clusters and Mr. Furuya takes one of the bottles in the middle cluster. "We will start with the red wine." He pops the bottle open with and gracefully pour the wine into three of the many wine glasses. "Take the glass and gently swirl it around, but not to forcefully so as not to spill the wine," they do as he says. "We are now coating the inside of the glass with a layer of wine which will increase the evaporation rate, thereby amplifying the scent."

Following his instructions, they take a whiff of the wine.

"Hmm," inhales Miyu. "Very nice."

"That is a Pinot Noir," Mr. Furuya points out. "Go ahead, take a sip. We are starting with the lightest red wine in the spectrum. If you notice it has quite a seductive, fruity scent."

"Yes," mutters Miyu, taking a sip.

"Now make sure you cover your taste buds in the wine, almost as if gargling it," the wine expert instructs.

"Very earthy," Aya comments after swallowing the wine.

They set their glasses aside and wait as the sommelier prepares to open the next bottle in the cluster.

"The next wine is what we call a Merlot." He swiftly pours a small amount to each glass. "As you can see, this is darker than that of the Pinot Noir. This is because it is made of fruits that are darker in the fruit range such as blackberries."

Following the instructions earlier given, the repeat the process with the Merlot, first swirling the wine around the glass then smelling it.

"Oh, it is different," says Aya.

"Yes, this is more… herbal," agrees Miyu,

They follow the same process as well for the tasting, making sure that they examine the wine very well.

"For the third wine, we have a Cabernet Sauvignon," Mr. Furuya introduces the last bottle among the reds, once again pouring them a light amount each. "This also uses a dark fruit. This may resemble a Merlot quite a bit, but you may find that distinguishing taste.

"Hmm, it does have that same herbal smell, just a little stronger," Miyu describes as she takes in the aroma of the Cabernet Sauvignon.

"Yes, definitely a more heavy scent," adds Aya before taking a sip.

Miyu likewise takes a sip, gargling the liquid around her taste buds. "Definitely meatier than the Pinot Noir but not as dry as the Merlot."

"This specific Cabernet is a little softer than other cabernets, and I would consider this a medium bodied Cabernet," Mr. Furuya further explains.

They absorb the information before finishing the glass. It was indeed a very enlightening wine session, especially for the girls. They didn't know that choosing a specific wine had a lot of considerations, and they didn't realize just how different each one could be.

"So, Ms. Yamazaki," Mr. Furuya starts off. "Would you say that you have chosen a wine from these three reds for your wedding?"

The blonde bride-to-be individually checks out each of the wine bottles, thinking and remembering all of the details that the sommelier explained and how each one tasted. She looks to Rei for help.

"I really like the Pinot Noir," suggets Aya. "It's not that strong and overpowering. It would go well with a lot of dishes."

Miyu looks at her, nodding in consideration.

"But if you go with that you might end up disappointing a lot of heavy wine drinkers," Rei comments nonchalantly. "You'll want to please the most number of guests with your wine choice."

The blonde takes in what Rei had just said. "Rei, what do you think? Which of these should Yamato and I get for the reception dinner?"

Rei raises an eyebrow. "You really want me to decide?"

"You know this better than I do!" Miyu insists. "Help a bride-to-be out, please!"

Rei sighs, scratching the back of his head. "Well, in my opinion, Cabernet is probably the most familiar wine variety among different types of people. It's practically the king of red wine."

"Yes, that's quite true," Mr. Furuya comments, impressed that Rei knew such information about wine. "You're going to have to consider what food you'll be partnering the wine with."

"Oh, but I haven't decided on the menu," frowns Miyu.

"It's okay," assures Rei as he takes the bottle of cabernet. "This Cabernet Sauvignon is surprisingly light, which means it will be easier to pair with food. It will pair up well with red meat, of course, but then it will also fare well with pasta. And yet, it's so familiar that even those who like the darker spectrum will appreciate a good cabernet. You can't go wrong with a cab."

Aya stares at Rei, surprised at his seemingly extensive knowledge of wine. "Wow," she says, impressed. "I didn't peg you as a wine kind of guy."

"Oh, he isn't," corrects Miyu, taking the bottle from Rei to examine it himself. "He's more a beer-kind-of-guy."

"Then how do you know so much about wine?" prods Aya.

Rei shrugs, and Miyu doesn't respond.

She's about to ask again, but the sommelier spoke first. "If you have decided on your red wine, why don't we start trying some white wine choices?"

They go through the same process of trying a couple of bottles of white wine, and with the recommendation of Rei, Miyu has decided to go with a sauvignon blanc – it was easy, crisp, and light. As Rei had commented, it would go well with most guests whether they be pinot noir drinkers, dry white drinkers, and even people of the older age bracket. The groomsman also suggested that Miyu choose a champagne for the toast, something that she likes since she would only be giving it out for that portion of the festivities.

"I guess that ends our wine tasting," says the sommelier as he caps the final bottle. "I will let Mr. Wakabayashi know of your choices, Ms. Yamazaki."

Miyu, a little red from all the alcohol sipping they've done, smiles. "Thank you so much for accommodating us, Mr. Furuya. I truly learned a lot today."

"It was my pleasure, Ms. Yamazaki," bows Mr. Furuya. "Now that the tasting has ended, I was told to give you and your company a tour of the vineyard. The weather is great today, I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

Aya, blush from all the wine evident on her porcelain skin, and Miyu gasp in excitement as the two ladies exchange looks. They have been in awe at just how beautiful the vineyard was and they were really ecstatic at the prospect of getting to go around and explore the place.

"Yes, we would love that!" says Miyu, ecstatic. "That's okay with you, right, Rei?"

He sighs. "I took the day off, so I might as well."

Mr. Furuya led them outside, back to the yard where an open-type jeep was parked by the off-road. It seemed like an old vehicle, worn out by constant use within the vineyard, its big track wheels covered in brown dirt.

A phone rings, however, before they step inside. The blonde realizes its hers as she feels the phone vibrate from within her sling bag, and she immediately reaches for it.

"Yes? Miyu, speaking," she greets. "No, I'm not—I'm out at the moment—What? How did that happen? Wait, we already confirmed the deliv—Alright, no, I'm on my way. Tell them to handle it until I arrive!"

Miyu presses the end call button, frustration evident in her expression. She groans, "I have to go back to the city, work emergency."

"Is everything alright, Miyu?" Aya asks a little worried.

"Someone just made a big mistake, and I have to go back and fix it," she grits her teeth, unable to hide her disappointment. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Furuya. It looks like I cannot tour the vineyard today." She notices that Aya and Rei are also preparing to leave with her but immediately puts up her hands to stop them. "No, it's okay! Aya, Rei, stay and take the tour! I can go back by myself."

Aya makes a face. "Don't be silly, Miyu. We came here together!"

Miyu shakes her head in disagreement. "No, I insist. Take the tour." She turns to Rei and asks, "It's okay if you take Aya home, right?"

The suggestion frazzles Aya. "Miyu, it's really okay. Plus, it wouldn't be right to take this tour without you!"

"Oh, don't be like that, Aya! It's such a waste of an opportunity!" urges Miyu. "I'm sure Rei doesn't mind."

"But still—"

"I'll take you home," cuts Rei.

Aya is surprised by the offer of Rei, and she looks at him, hesitant. "Are you sure?"

Miyu is relieved. "See! There you go! And now I must go. So you two enjoy, okay?"

But before any of them could respond, she makes her way back to the deck and into the house, accompanied by Mr. Furuya.

"Are you sure it's okay with you?" questions Aya.

Rei sighs, scratching the back of his head before looking her in the eye. "Yes, don't worry. And who knows when you'll get the chance to tour a vineyard again?"

"Have you toured a vineyard before?" asks Aya, her curiosity about his apparent knowledge on wine piqued by his earlier display.

He shakes his head. "No, this would be my first as well."

She frowns, and at this point she has relinquished some control over her muscles to the alcohol that she's having a hard time controlling her expressions. Rei notices the disappointed look on her face, and was about to question her about it but Mr. Furuya had already returned.

They are ushered into the jeep where they are each handed a glass of champagne to enjoy the trip even more. They drink as much of the glass before the jeep started to run to avoid spilling, but they realized that the road wasn't as rough as they thought it would be.

The tour first brought them to the grapevines field, which were extensive rows of carefully panted grapes held up by thin poles made of wood, rising to heights even taller than they were. They took out their shades to shield them from the rays of the afternoon sun before they got off the jeep to walk around the fields. Even as they looked to beyond the road, there was no clear end in sight, the field just seemed to extend and extend as they walked along. Each grapevine or set thereof, were different, and Mr. Furuya kindly expressed which grapes were used for reds (light and dark), or for whites. They were even offered to taste the grapes plucked off the vine. They explored the fields for a while longer, taking in its natural beauty.

When they were done, they were brought to the where the grapes are taken after they were plucked, and they got to observe some of the processes by which the grapes are transformed into wine. Then after they got to see where the bottles that will be shipped out for sale was stored, some were shelved and others were placed in boxes ready for shipment to retailers, and they were easily amazed by the number of wines bottles that Vino Cielo is able to produce.

"I would have never thought I'd be exploring a vineyard in my life! This is just amazing," gawks Aya while they are walking from the stock shed.

Back outside, there were two fully grown brown horses waiting for them.

Aya's jaw drops at the sight of the steeds and runs toward the animals to get a closer look. "They're beautiful," she smiles, petting one of them. "What are they doing here, Mr. Furuya?"

"They will bring you to your last stop in this tour, Ms. Hoshino," explains the sommelier.

"Really?" Aya's smile grows wider as she looks at the ever-unenthusiastic Rei. "Did you hear that? We get to ride these horses!"

"I did," Rei responds as comes closer to where Aya was. "Aren't you a little too thrilled?"

Aya frowns, "Oh come on, aren't you the least bit excited at the thought of riding horses through a vineyard? You could be happier, you know."

Rei shrugs. "It's just a horse, nothing to be excited about. Haven't you ever ridden a horse before?"

The raven-haired lady shakes her head, pouting. "Do you think horses are as common in the city as bikes or cars?"

"I didn't say they were," says Rei, bemused by her childish display. "But there are parks around that allow horse-back riding. So you've never ridden a horse before?"

Aya blushes, now feeling a little inadequate. "I haven't, okay?"

Rei chuckles.

"What about you, Mr. Otohata? Do you know how to ride a horse?" asks Mr. Furuya.

"I can manage," he replies confidently, striking one of the horses gently on its back.

"If that's the case, I can take one of the horses, while your and Ms. Hoshino the other," instructs Mr. Furuya before grabbing the reign on the horse closer to him, gracefully pulling himself up the stirrup and comfortably into the saddle. "Well then, you should both get on the horse so we can get going."

Rei looks Aya, waiting for her to move. She looks back at him confused.

"Oh! You mean I go up first?" asks Aya worriedly.

"Come on, don't be scared, it won't run away while you're getting up," insists Rei, encouragingly patting her on the back.

Aya frowns at him. "You say that like it's so easy."

Rei grumbles. "Okay, grab the reigns—here," he pulls the reign for Aya to hold. "Now put your left foot through the hole—yes that one. Okay, get ready to pull yourself up. One, two, three." Rei gives Aya a little boost by holding her waist as she pushes herself off the ground. "Ugh, why are you so heavy?" He sees the wedding planner's mood change to annoyance, restraining herself from kicking him, and he holds back his laughter.

Struggling a little, and maybe because she's still a little woozy from the wine earlier, it takes her another try with more assistance from Rei to completely get on the horse. When she successfully does so, she grins, pleased with her self, and Rei couldn't help but feel just as amused.

She gives the horse gentle stroke while Rei gets on the horse himself, as easily as the sommelier did earlier. He makes himself comfortable, sitting behind her, as he grabs the reigns, his arms on either side of her.

Mr. Furuya takes the lead, going through the road path between the fields and eventually going up the hill towards the direction of the setting sun. As they further go along, the brown paths become patches of grass and soon flowers can be seen growing from the edges until they finally reach an open garden full of them. There was a deck, just like the one back in the manor, this time without a house attached to it, where a long table was set, and were food was being cooked and grilled by the estate's staff. Beyond the deck was a square gazebo, with orchids around the posts and small lamps attached to the edges of the roof, it overlooked the fields of the vineyard.

They stopped the horses just before the deck and Mr. Furuya got off his horse. Rei easily dismounted from the horse and assisted Aya as she tried to get down herself. Struggling again however, her left foot gets tangled in the stirrup causing her to lose her footing as she gets off and almost falls back.

"Oh my g—" she gets ready for her butt to hit the surface of the ground but it never came. She feels a pair of arms catch her by her shoulders, and another around her waist as she is aided back to stand up.

She opens her eyes only to meet brown ones staring into her. She never noticed but he had really nice eyelashes. Blinking, she realizes just how close their proximity is and blushes, but he doesn't move an inch.

"Are you okay?" he asks, worry in his voice.

At that moment, she felt extra aware of everything like how his arm was still around her waist, feeling jolts where he fingers lay, how his breath is warm on her skin, how her hands are pressed against his chest, and how so wonderfully deep his voice was.

"Aya?" he asks again. "Are you okay?"

Taken out of her trance, she releases her touch on his chest and tries to find her footing. When he notices that she's firmly on the ground he loosens his grip, and she finds herself missing the jolts she felt earlier, blushing at the mere thought.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry about that," she manages to say, stammering a little.

"You can be really clumsy sometimes," he jokes as he watches her, making sure she isn't hurt. "Now I know why you've never ridden a horse before."

Aya opens her mouth, but then shuts it back quickly.

"I," she says through gritted teeth, "will refrain from saying what I want to say, only because you helped me not fall on my ass."

Rei grins, bemused. "You don't seem very thankful."

"I'm am… deep inside." She dusts off imaginary dirt off her pants, huffing as she walks past him to where Mr. Furuya was up the deck, shaking off the moment that they just had.

"Welcome to the Vino Cielo Garden," greets Mr. Furuya, the full garden on display from where they stood on the deck. "This is probably Mr. Wakabayashi's favorite place on the estate. This is where he treats his visitors for a meal, or where his family would once in a while celebrate a special occasion."

Aya gasps as she takes in the view; flowers of white, yellow, blue and purple surround the area below the deck, stone pavements comprise the pathways leading to the gazebo while another to a small wooden canopy with couches and pillows, and a third that led to the edge of the hill outlined by railings to keep one from falling, from which point one can see more clearly the vast estate. The orange sunset gave it an even more rustic feel, and the cold night wind was starting to blow, giving them such a surreal treat.

"This is breathtaking," she inhales.

Rei nods in agreement. "It sure is."

"We're preparing a dinner meal for you," announces Mr. Furuya. "Follow me to the gazebo, please."

They do as they're told, reeling in all the surprises and experiences that would otherwise not have been typically available to them, and just being thankful that they were there. When they get to the gazebo, they see a table setting for two (clearly Mr. Furuya must have relayed that Miyu had already left) and they each take a seat opposite to each other. Mr. Furuya brought out a bottle of red wine, the same bottle that Miyu had chosen for her wedding, and popped it, pouring a glass each for Rei and Aya, and leaving the bottle in the bucket filled with ice.

"Dinner will be served shortly," he says, preparing to leave the two to one another's company. "Enjoy."

They both say their thanks to Mr. Furuya and they take their glass of wine for a sip. Aya can't tell anymore how many glasses of wine she's taken that day but thought it best to just take whatever this day gives. After all, it's been a while since she's enjoyed herself this much.

For most of the time waiting for their food, they spent it in silence, opting to observe the beautiful garden, walking around to see the overlooking view of the vineyard before going back to sit in the gazebo. Soon the sun had completely set and the night sky had taken over. The garden was then lit up by the lights on the deck and the lanterns around the garden and within the gazebo. It looked just as beautiful in the night, Aya thought.

It's not that Aya didn't want to talk, but Rei was just a hard guy to decipher, he himself not being such a talker. But it's been a while, she could smell the steak still being grilled on the deck, and she can't stand the awkward silence anymore.

"So," she starts off. "Are you enjoying this vineyard tour?"

Rei finally looks at her, his arms crossed as he was leaning back on the chair. "Yeah, I guess."

"What was your favorite part?" she offers. "Personally, I enjoyed exploring the fields, but who knows, this dinner could top that."

Her brown-haired companion merely shrugs. "Hn."

Boy, he was tough to crack.

"I don't think you ever told me what you do for a living," Aya tries again, changing the topic to something more mundane, hoping to get him talking.

"I haven't."

Aya frowns. "You're not much of a talker, are you?" And normally, Aya wouldn't say something like that, but she figures she's had enough alcohol to be a little more blunt than usual.

Rei arches an eyebrow, and she furrows hers, her cheeks a little flushed.

"What?" she asks when she realizes he's studying her face. Her cheeks heat up, but it's hard to distinguish her blush from the effects of the wine. "Is there something on my face?"

Rei smirks. "Tell you what," he says, pulling his weight forward and placing his right elbow on the table before letting his chin rest on his palm. "You can guess the answer to your questions, and I'll tell you when you're correct. But from every wrong guess, you have to take a sip. Game?"

"Huh?" reacts Aya, surprised at his suggestion. "Wait, how would I know if you're telling the truth? You could just keep telling me I'm wrong so I'll keep drinking."

"I'm a man of my word," he says, grinning. "You'll just have to trust me."

She raises her eyebrow this time, staring at him. "Trust, huh?"

He doesn't waiver but keeps the grin on his face, waiting for her response.

"Fine. Game, but you have to play it too," she counters.

Rei thinks for a while. "Call."

Her eyes widen, surprised he agreed but also excited. She takes the bottle from the bucket and poured their glasses to an equal level. "What's the first question?"

"You wanted to know what I do for a living," he states. "Well then, guess."

She smiles sheepishly. "Are you…"

They play the game even after their steak came. She's finished at least two glasses of wine by now, not being very good at making guesses, while he had been pretty much spot on for the most part, consuming only a little over one glass. From their game she's learned that he used to own a dog named Taro, that his favorite cuisine was Greek, and that he prefers to drive his motorbike even though he owns a car.

On the other hand, he learned that she can only play one song on the flute, that she used to take dancing lessons with her boyfriend as a dare, and that writing things upside down was her weirdly special talent.

"No way!" she laughs heartily. Her face now beet red, and her voice a little squeaky. "You didn't!"

He grins, tipping his head to the side.

"Wow," she says. "Must be traumatizing catching your parents like _that_."

"You don't know the half of it," he admits.

"Wow, just wow," she says, allowing herself to sink into her seat while the plates were taken away by the staff and replaced with plates of molten lava cake. "And this cake is also wow."

They each take a forkful of the cake and the chocolate oozes out. The dessert was as good as it gets, just as divine as the steak earlier served with a side of mashed potatoes.

"Do you want to continue playing?" Rei asks. "You're clearly hit from all the wine."

" _You're_ clearly hit," she counters, feigning offense. But she didn't think he was, his face was not red at all. She doesn't know why he's still so sober (or at least looks sober), and found it unfair that she was already so flushed and warm inside.

He laughs. "Okay, easy there."

"I know!" she quickly says as if she's discovered a world secret. "Let's play a different game."

He gives in, curious. "Oh yeah? What game?"

"You know the truth game?"

"Do you mean truth or dare?"

She rolls her eyes. "No," she shakes her head. "Just the truth part. I ask a question and you have to answer honestly, like really honest. If you don't want to answer, take a sip! And vice versa. That way, to avoid sipping too much we just have to answer."

Rei sits back, examining her. "Are you sure you still want to play?"

"I'm sure!" she insists leaning forward, putting her chin on top of open palms resting on the table. "Plus we still have this cake to finish."

He shrugs. "Okay. I'll go first then." She smiles gesturing him to go ahead. "Do you regret changing careers?"

The question surprises her, only because she didn't think he'd bring it up. But it wasn't a difficult question. "Nope," she says confidently. "Sure it was hard, and I got a lot of flack for it. But I'm enjoying what I'm doing now. So, the answer is no."

He smiles. "Alright then."

"My turn." There was a glimmer of slyness in her eyes. "Where did you learn to ride a horse?"

Her question almost makes her laugh. "My parents loved going to the countryside for vacation and for a lot of summers we'd go to this ranch and I'd ride horses with my dad for fun."

"Never pegged you as a farm guy," she holds back a laugh.

"At least I know how to ride a horse," Rei counters.

She laughs. "Touché," she concedes. "But that does sound like a lot of fun."

He looks down, a smile creeping unto his face. "Yeah, it really was."

"Alright, that was the easy round, wasn't it?" Aya challenges. "Your turn."

"Hmm," he gives it a thought. "Why did you change careers?"

She contemplates for a moment, holding the wine glass by its stem and absently twirling the wine inside, staring at the swirling purple liquid.

"You can take a drink if you want," dares Rei.

But she doesn't respond, not immediately. "Have you ever felt like something you thought you love was killing you inside?" Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. It was rhetorical, but she paused to look at him, and his expression remained unchanged. "Well, I was dying. Working where I worked sucked the life out of me, and I… Working there made me so unhappy," she says with sad eyes as she leans back, sinking into the chair. "That's why I left."

He wasn't really counting on her being so honest; maybe it was the alcohol, and maybe it was the easiness by which the questions came and have been answered. He looks at her, and her eyes have not left his brown ones, and she notices the pensive stare he's worn on and wonders what he's thinking.

Instead, she asks, "Why are you so familiar with wines?"

The question takes him out of his trance as he remembers they were still playing a game. It takes him a second to process the question, and finally he realizes that she finally had to opportunity to quench her earlier curiosity.

"It's not that I'm familiar," he shrugs. "I've just… I've been to a wine tasting before. Those things about the different wines, how to distinguish, what to look for—I've heard it all before."

"You did a wine tasting before?" she repeats, surprised. She didn't imagine that his know-how on choosing the right wine was just from a simple wine tasting. "For what?"

"That," he points out, "is another question."

She frowns. It wasn't it was like a different question. It was more of a follow-up.

Instead he clears his throat signifying his turn to make a query, and by this time they have long forgotten the molten lava cake in front of them. "What happened to you that night?"

"What night?" she asks, confused.

"The night you came from that fancy dinner with your boyfriend," he clarifies. "Then you came back to your office while Tatsuki and I were having dinner."

She stiffens, remembering that night he was pertaining to. She contemplates drinking the wine, but most of her inhibitions were gone at that point. And she's been honest so far, so she might as well.

She takes a deep breath. "I thought he was going to propose, and well, obviously he didn't." Her voiced was a little pained as she held up her right hand, showing him her ringless finger.

"Ah, I see," he says softly.

It wasn't a pitying tone, she notices, but instead it was an understanding one. She doesn't explain further, and he doesn't pry, so she assumes that it's her turn to ask.

"So," she changes the topic. "What did you do a wine tasting for?"

He raises an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"What?" She laughs defensively. "It's my turn to ask and it's a new round."

He sighs, but he doesn't respond immediately. She sees him reaching out to his wine glass, grabbing it by the stem and bringing it closer to him.

"You're really going to take a drink?" she asks in disbelief. "It's not that hard of a question, Rei!"

But he doesn't say anything, thinking still. The silence lingered as she waits for him to decide whether or not to answer the question. She soon realizes she might have hit a sore spot on the brown-haired fellow, and was about to just take back the question when suddenly he spoke up.

"I," he says, voice low and careful, and his eyes was still fixated on the wine glass he was holding. "I did this all before."

"Going to a vineyard?" The confused expression was evident on her face, and the awkwardness of the moment dipping, his answer seemingly anti-climatic. "I thought you've never been to one before?"

He shakes his head solemnly. "Wine tasting for a wedding—I've done this before. I've already heard it all: what red pairs best depending on the menu and the people, which white wine would still go well with red meat, that you should only serve champagne once—I've already learned it before."

"Ah," she mouths. "So you've been a groomsman before as well. I can totally imagine you being the groomsman nightmare that you are," she laughs.

"No," he corrects, laughing hollowly at the conclusion.

"So who's wedding did you wine-taste for?"

He paused, breathing in deeply. "Mine."

To say that his answer caught her off-guard would have been an understatement. That said, she didn't know how to respond, but instead quickly inspects his hand for a ring, checking if she had all this time missed the fact that he was a married man, but she finds none. He sees her looking at his hand and he raises it, showing her his long, but otherwise empty fingers.

"Oh," was all she could come up with, her smile long gone.

"It didn't push through, if that's what you're wondering," he addresses the question she didn't need to ask.

She doesn't ask why or what happened. "I'm sorry."

It's not the first time he's heard this, she's sure, and the trembling smile that crept on his face when she said those words had given it away. But it was all she could really say, and she did mean it.

"It's been two years," he tries to laugh it off, rubbing his eyes with the back of his palm. "It's practically forever ago. So there's really no need to be sorry for me. I'm okay."

True, it was during a time when she didn't even know he existed. She didn't know that there was a wedding that didn't happen between a woman and a man who was later going to be a friend of sorts during the same period of her life where she was so lost in its direction. So she didn't need to say that she's sorry about what happened. And he didn't need it either. His sparkling mahogany eyes, glowing under the light of the orange lanterns, were clearly pained at the memories of years past, and she knows that he's masked it well over the time that had lapsed since then.

"Still," she offers, voice firm but sincere, insistent but understanding. "I'm sorry to hear that."

He looks at her with piercing eyes, searching for something she can't quite guess, and she lets him, her gaze not faltering against his. She wants him to know that it's okay, even if it's not.

Finally he gives her a small smile, acknowledging her sincerity. "Thanks."


	6. Chapter 6: Completely Incomplete

**Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

A/N: Thank you for all the sweet reviews! It warms my heart, it really does. As I've been really excited to write this chapter, it's probably my fastest update in a long time. Thank you for bearing with me. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave me your thoughts as well! This was also inspired by PiedPiper's story "Come to Me".

Disclaimer: I do not own GALS! Nor its characters. Neither do I own the song "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse.

* * *

" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _Completely Incomplete_**

* * *

"Hello, brother!" greets a young man as he barges in Rei Otohata's apartment unannounced, much to the older man's chagrin.

"You're not my brother," Rei retorts not glancing up from the work he's finishing on his laptop while Masato Iwai makes his way to plop down on Rei's couch, making the latter bounce a little when he does so.

Masato is indeed not the chocolate-haired man's brother, but Rei to him was what Yamato was to Yuuya and Rei, the brother figure that they never had. And Rei will likely deny everything, wanting to pass himself off as having limited emotions, but in actuality Rei cares for him as much as he does Yuuya, and the Otohata family had practically raised Masato who had absentee, career-driven parents all his life.

Rei sighs as the corner of his eye catches Masato stretch out on his sofa, extending his legs to place them on top of Rei's wooden coffee table. "When did you arrive?"

"Last night," the younger one answers as he reaches out for the remote. "God, I've missed being back home."

"At least you've managed not getting yourself kicked out of graduate school," Rei comments nonchalantly. "I'd say that's a big achievement for you."

He continues to flip the channels, brushing off the comment. "For your information," he grins. "I almost did. Who knew that flour was flammable?"

He doesn't see Rei roll his eyes before he closes his laptop and stands up, leaving the young brunette alone in the couch while he makes his way to the kitchen. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I know how much you've missed me, Rei," he says with a goofy smile plastered on his face when the turns his head to face the older man. "I just wanted to end your suffering."

The groomsman snorts. "Don't use me as an excuse to avoid Sayo."

At the mention of the youngest Kotobuki's name, Rei's uninvited guest's face falls. "What are you talking about? I'm not avoiding Sayo," he swallows.

"Playing dumb would probably work on Yuuya," Rei points out while he waits for the pot of coffee to finish brewing. Masato pulls himself up to his knees on the couch and leans against the back thereof so that his body is facing the older one of the two of them. "But you're here, not even a day after you arrive, knowing fully well she'll drop by your place today since she's aware you're back. Stop hiding."

"I'm not _hiding_ ," Masato insists, sinking down the couch in such a way that his arms are crossed on top of the back of the couch.

"So you're just playing a game of hide and seek with your on-and-off girlfriend?"

"It's not like that," the younger man grunts. "I'm just… I'm not ready to see her yet."

Rei raises a brow. "And why not?"

"A lot has changed since I went abroad," he reluctantly admits. "I just… well, I can't speak for her but… She might, you know, not want the same things we used to want before I left."

Rei frowns in spite of his indifferent expression. "And you came to this conclusion how?"

"You already know how much of a struggle it was to keep a long distance relationship," he explains making gestures Rei did not even attempt to make sense of. "We kept fighting. A lot. I just don't know if we can get back to a point where we weren't always fighting."

The senior of the two let the silence fall as he makes sense of his friend's predicament. "First of all, you said it yourself. You can't speak for her," he sighs. "So why don't you actually hear her out first? Second, I'm no psychiatrist but your fears seem more perceived than they are real."

"But what if they are real?"

"Then talk to her. Stop hiding."

"I'll take your advice when you can take it yourself," declares Masato.

Rei was about to pour coffee on a mug he had taken out when he stopped midway to narrow his eyes on his younger visitor. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I saw that those boxes are still in the empty room when I walked in," he gestures with his thumb the half-open door opposite that where Rei sleeps. "You haven't gotten rid of them, or at least asked her to get them. So who's hiding from whom?"

"Boxes?"

"Now who's playing dumb?" Masato returns Rei's own words against the latter. "Those boxes, the one with all her things."

"It's not the same thing." Rei's voice prickles with irritation.

"Yes it is."

"I'm not hiding—"

"It's been two years—"

"Stop it, Masato—"

"Those boxes were here when I left and they're still here now that I'm back."

"Masato!" his voice was now threatening, almost shaking. "Stop."

But the man who just came back from abroad was now not willing to stop since he's finally gotten his older friend to show some emotion on the touchy subject. "And you're still _here_."

He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. A lingering silence follows Masato's words as Rei clenches his grip on the counter top. "She's the only one that left, not me."

"She's not coming back, Rei." Masato's voice, as much as his expression, was soft, and gentle, and full of sympathy, the kind that Rei has heard and seen hundreds of times over from all of his friends and family.

He grits through his teeth. "I know that."

"Then stop hiding."

Rei closes his eyes as he exhales deeply, trying to relax his clenched fists, and attempting to figure out how the little weasel found a way to twist the conversation from his problems with his girlfriend to Rei's own. "Just leave it alone, Masato."

Masato sighs, knowing when to stop pushing. He waits a little longer to make sure that his friend has calmed down, and his long exhale gave it away. "You know we mean well."

"So they did send you," he glares at the mocha-haired man.

Masato shrugs. "Yuuya may have mentioned the boxes one time, and I just wanted to check if the intel was still accurate," he offers as an explanation. "And I really did come here because I missed you."

"Hn." Rei finally takes a sip of his coffee, the tension having died down from a while ago. "And you're still avoiding Sayo."

"We're cut from the same cloth, so…" Masato sinks into the couch, finally relieving his knees of the weight of holding his body up. "By the way, do you want to have dinner tonight? We can make it like my welcome back party with Yuuya."

"I have plans," says Rei.

Masato looks back at him in disbelief. "I finally come home after two years and you have plans with someone else?"

"You think I'll drop everything just for you? You're not that lucky," says Rei taking another sip before checking his phone.

The younger man glares at him. "And who, dare tell, is this fellow that stole my brother from me?"

"I'm not your brother," Rei corrects not looking up from his phone, now leaning against the kitchen sink. "Just some other friends."

Masato's eyes bug, and a mischievous grin grow on his face. "Is this that Aya person you've been hanging out a lot with?"

The mention of the raven-haired girl's name causes Rei to peek through his phone to arch an eyebrow toward Masato's direction. "Come again?"

"Yuuya's been telling me about the wedding planner you've been having lunch with a lot lately." The grin was still very much plastered on his face. "I gotta say, Rei, I thought the rule was to hit on the bridesmaids at the wedding, not the wedding planner. Gotta hand it to you."

"You shouldn't believe everything that Yuuya's been telling you, especially since he's the one keeping a closet full of secrets."

"Oh, and the plot thickens," jeers Masato. "So one, who is Aya and where are you going tonight? And two, what are these secrets you speak of."

"One, I'm not hanging out with Aya tonight. Two, go ask Yamato."

Masato frowns, and Rei isn't sure which answer disappointed him the most. "I can't ask Yamato, I might see Sayo." He supposed that answered his question. "So if not Aya, then who?"

"I told you, other friends." He starts walking to the direction of his room with his phone and cup of coffee in tow. "Now stop hiding from Sayo and get out of my apartment. I already texted her you're here."

Masato's face paled. "You what?!"

But Rei chose to ignore the expletives and exclamations that came after that, putting on his headphones and playlist as he laid down on his bed, making himself comfortable. It wasn't long after that Masato left the apartment in a hurry—and he'll later learn that Rei sent no text whatsoever, to which he'll attempt to get back at his friend. The day went by with little to no surprises, and he took off to meet Tatsuki as planned.

"Rei, you came!" greets an overjoyed blonde chef.

The brown-haired groomsman stands stiff as he unwillingly receives a hug from Tatsuki by surprise. "Okay, let go now."

He does as he's told, keeping the big grin plastered on his face. "I totally thought you were going to ditch me."

And admittedly, he contemplated doing so. Tatsuki invited him to watch a small theater production over at a pub he frequents in his local neighborhood area. Tatsuki was able to "score" tickets to a one-week only play entitled _"On The Eve Of The End."_ Plays aren't really Rei's cup of tea; he'd prefer listening to a concert of mostly any kind, but plays need more attention to detail than he'd like to offer. What was more discouraging was just how difficult it was to find the place—it was around half an hour from his apartment, he got down the wrong stop on the subway (which he blamed Tatsuki for giving him the wrong station to get off of), and then crossed the wrong street more than once. He finally knew that he arrived at the right place when he saw the spiky blond hair standing out amidst at see of people standing in front of the grungy brick wall with posters of the night's play.

Now that he thought about it, it was probably the first time he's seen Tatsuki in an outfit other than his chef's uniform. It was strange seeing him dressed so casually in a graphic black t-shirt under a brown leather jacket and blue jeans.

It was a little while longer until he noticed the raven-haired girl standing behind him, wrapped around in a thick coat wearing an annoyed expression on her porcelain face.

"I thought you had a date tonight?" he asks.

They haven't really talked about the things they shared during the wine tasting, the secrets they've willingly revealed; not that they really wanted to during meetings with the bride and groom, or lunches in the offices with Tatsuki and Mami.

"He cancelled," she responds dryly, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice, but regardless, her mood gave it away.

Tatsuki sighs. "He always cancels."

"Shh." Aya smacks her nosy friend on the arm. "It's no big deal. He's just working really hard on that promotion."

"If it's no big deal then why are you so annoyed?" winces Tatsuki in his knowing tone, rubbing his arm from the sharp slap.

"Because _you're_ being annoying," she sticks her tongue out like a kid.

Tatsuki rolls his eyes. Sometimes he doesn't understand why he is often labeled as the immature one of the three of them.

"How did you even find this place, Tatsuki?" inquires Rei, breaking the fuss between the two friends.

"He enjoys all things weird, what's there to know?" Aya answers the question in spite.

"Hey!" exclaims Tatsuki in offense. "For your information, open mic night is an art form. Just because you can't spit some rhyme doesn't mean you can diss on the frustrated artists just trying to make their mark in this world! You're lucky to even get the chance to seem them before they make it big in the industry."

"Fine, whatever," she waves him off.

"Let's just go inside, I'm starting to freeze out here," suggests Rei.

Aya smiles in appreciation of the diversion and Tatsuki leads them into the glass door, and up the wooden steps to the second floor of the building.

Old posters of plays Rei has never heard of were plastered on the walls going up the stairs, which made creaky noises every other step. When they reach the pub, it was rearranged in such a way that it resembled a make-shift theater—the chairs were arrange in rows, around thirty seats in total, separated in the middle to give way to passing guests, and a small wooden elevated stage at the center with stage lights to match. The room was still lit when they entered, and people—more in number that the seats could entertain—were scuffling around to find empty seats, lest they stand on the sides for the entirety of the play.

They take their seat by the fourth row on the left side, walking past another couple that had the ones by the outer aisle. It wasn't long until the lights dimmed and the center stage was on the spotlight accentuating the red velvet curtain draped over it, slowly being pulled to the side unveiling two small round tables and four chairs, and a sign stuck on the wall with the word "Café" in script cut from styrofoam. Two girls were seated on the chair, chatting, and soon their voices can be heard over the stereo.

"So have you decided what you're going to do?" one of the girls asks in her gossipy tone. She leans in closer to the other girl as if the next words out of her mouth is a secret.

The other girl frowns, overemphasizing her pout when she places her cheek atop her closed fists. "I have to break-up with him, right? I mean, that's the right thing to do. I don't think he loves me anymore, and maybe I don't love him."

"You don't?"

The other girl hesitates. "I don't. Or well… I don't know. I just feel like we're not the same people anymore."

A lull in the lines comes after, and if the audience looks closely enough they will notice that one of the actresses is looking toward the right end of the stage, covered by the curtain.

Finally the actress says, "Well, you're going to have to decide soon. Time is flying by fast."

Already, less than five minutes into the first act and Rei is cringing at nearly every uttered line. He can practically predict the ending, and he can tell that this was not the contemporary, poignant and thought-provoking play he thought it would be. It did not go better from there, as he hoped it would get.

So far, the plot has laid out that the boyfriend the woman in the earlier scene wanted to break up with was already cheating on her with (and at least this part gave a little bit of a surprise) another man, but the woman was completely clueless. The boyfriend's secret lover on the other hand was a closet gay who is the brother of the woman's best friend (the other woman from the first scene) who comes from a conservative family of a military background.

It finally came to the scene where the woman had the courage to confront her boyfriend about their problems.

"Can't you feel that there's something wrong?" she asks him, tugging at his brown trench coat. "Your heart, it's no longer mine. I can feel it."

Rei finds that he's surprised in the fact that he's actually trying hard to suppress a laugh. He covers his mouth to hide the escaping chuckle evoked by the cheesy lines.

"You're right, there is someone else," the man says, and on cue the woman slaps her leading man.

"I knew it!" she exclaims. "Why? What's wrong with me?"

And if Rei was being critical, the way the character reacted to the revelation was not how her character had been built so far.

"Nothing!"

Of course, he'd say that.

"It's not you, it's me. Really, it is."

It was that line that made Rei burst into laughter he could no longer contain. It lasted a few seconds and he hadn't realized that all eyes were on him, even the actors (who by then broke character from the disruption).

"Shh!" the audience called out as he tried to calm his outburst. "What the hell, man? Keep it down!"

"Are you okay?" Aya asks, concerned.

"Rei!" Tatsuki, clearly annoyed and embarrassed, calls out in hushed tones. "Quit laughing! This is a very important scene!"

His friend's reprimand did nothing to quell his laughing. And seeing as the actors couldn't continue until he stopped, he opted to stand up and make his way outside. He mouthed apologies on his way out, including one directed to Tatsuki. He reaches the steel door and, when he exits, descends the staircase that leads to the outside of the building. Cold night's breeze greets him as finds himself back outside at the spot where he met up with Tatsuki and Aya, still trying to contain his laughter.

"Rei!" He hears someone call out from behind him. When he turns around, he sees the raven-haired woman open the door. She must have followed him when he left. "What happened to you?"

Her voice was of genuine concern.

He really didn't know how to answer that.

"What are you doing here?" he wonders out loud.

"I came to check up on you," she reasons. He surmises that his sudden outburst of laughter took her by surprise. She can probably count in her hand the number of times he's laughed in front of her.

The fact that she thought there was something wrong with him to make him react the way he did made it even more hilarious for him.

"That play," he tries to say, shaking his head. "It was terrible." There was no other way to describe it.

"That's why you were laughing so hard?" she was now a party to the laughter. "Gosh, I thought you were having a breakdown!"

"Don't tell me you were actually enjoying that play?" Rei asks, incredulity in his voice.

"Oh god, I thought I was the only one who thought it was so bad."

He shook his head in disagreement.

"They actually used the 'It's not you, it's me," line!" she added. "And they thought that by adding 'Really, it is,' it's supposed to take it out of the cliché category."

"And that was horrible, horrible acting!" he chimed in. "The woman was going to break up with him! And then she goes on demanding to know if there was someone else, and then to ask what was wrong with her. And the other girl, oh god! She kept forgetting her lines. I mean, how did she even get cast?" By now, Aya was just laughing along. So he continues, "I mean, people come here expecting a good show. It's about the promise that you're going to give out a good story, with believable acting, and it's supposed to make you feel something. You come to watch the play trusting that they'll keep their end of the bargain. You're not supposed to break the trust they gave you, because they're counting on you not to leave them hanging, to be there and not leave them wondering why suddenly you can no longer marry—"

He did not realize exactly when the subject of the rant changed, nor when her laughter faded into an expression he has seen many times over. Neither did he realize when she had taken his hand to hers, holding it, gently caressing the back of his hand with her thumb. There it was. The same look he saw on Masato earlier that day. This was exactly what he didn't want from his friendship with Aya and Tatsuki. It was supposed to be a fresh start, until the past caught up with him.

He turns away, not letting go of her hand. He takes a long, deep breath before rubbing the back of his free hand on his tired eyes. She didn't say a word.

"It all happened so fast," he finally says. "One moment we were planning a wedding—attending wine tastings and fitting gowns and tuxes. Then suddenly she's gone. Not a word. She left me with an unused venue, a booked caterer and band, a tailored suit, mountains of bills, an apartment too big for one and broken promises." He sniffs, and he's not sure if it's the cold night air or something more. "Going to sketchy pubs late at night to watch horrible productions is not where I thought I would be two years ago. I thought I'd be having Saturday nights in, arguing over watching an action movie or a romantic comedy, and Sunday brunches with my parents or my in-laws, and dinner dates with other unbearably boring couples. I thought I would be buying groceries for two and choosing furniture and kitchenware over magazines, pretending I care that the curtains match the sofa, not worrying about plus-ones or having a Valentines date."

Rei doesn't know what made him admit all of these things to her. Was it because they shared a moment or two in the vineyard? Was it because the past had been brought up earlier that day? Was it because she was never a witness to his past? But he surprised himself that he managed to be this honest in front of her.

He can feel the tenderness of her hand as she squeezes his hand curled into hers. "I'm pretty sure brunch is overrated," she says, her voice kind.

Aya's random comment manages to make him laugh a little, easing the heaviness he feels.

"You'd think that two years would be enough time to get back to normal," he whispers, finally managing to face her.

Her eyes soften. "I don't think there's a rule that says you have to be okay at a certain point in time. Everybody has their own pace."

The groomsman doesn't respond, and simply lets the lady soothe him by holding his hand, her touch knowing but not judging, understanding but not demanding. Her touch is the warmth amidst the icy night's air he feels against the rest of his body.

"There you are!" says a new voice. "What the hell was that?"

And as quickly as Tatsuki appeared, Aya, startled, let go of her grip on Rei's hand. He immediately feels the cold replace the warmth that her touch gave, and he finds himself missing it.

"How could you do that to me?"

Rei looks at him in a way that tells the other to further explain the accusation.

"You embarrassed me a while ago!" He was furious. "I bring you guys here to share with you a part of me, and you do _that?_ Friends don't ruin other friends' opportunities to grow."

Rei tries to keep a serious face but fails. "That really wasn't a great play, Tatsuki."

Aya speaks up in a calm voice. "Is that the kind of growth you wanted?"

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" Tatsuki childishly covers his ears as if the words coming out of his friends' mouths were heresy. "Because of you I might get banned from the pub and other productions it might show!"

Rei looks at him regretfully. "Is that really the worst thing in the world?"

"I'm sure we can find better plays out there, Tatsukichi!" assures Aya.

"What kind of friends are you?" the chef frowns.

"The best!" Aya smiles, waiting for Tatsuki to give in to her charm. "Now come on, why don't you cook us something good tonight?"

Tatsuki exhales, knowing he's lost. "Fine. What do you want?"

"Yay!" cheers Aya as she wraps her arm around Tatsuki's deflated form, encouraging him to start walking.

Rei looks on, a grin subconsciously forming on the side of his lips as he observed the two.

They stop on their tracks, looking back to see that Rei has not moved an inch. "You coming?" Aya asks.

"I'm still considered a friend after tonight?"

Tatsuki furrows his eyebrows at him. "Of course, you dummy! Friends forgive friends for the stupid things they do."

A genuine smile suddenly appears on his lips taking a step following the other two ahead of him.


	7. Chapter 7: I'll Take Your Invitation

**Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

A/N: Hello, again! Taking advantage of this writing momentum to update as fast as I can. I'm glad that some of you expressed your enjoyment with the last chapter, thank you for taking time to let me know! Again this chapter was inspired by PiedPiper's "Come To Me" and The Last Five Year's "Still Hurting". Enjoy and please do leave me your thoughts! Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own GALS! nor any of its characters. Neither do I own the song "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse.

* * *

" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _I'll Take Your Invitation_**

* * *

Ran Kotobuki hadn't expected to Rei Otohata to remember their Thursday afternoon coffee meet-ups, especially considering that she's been giving him rain checks ever since she had to start prepping for Fashion Week. It had been their thing, the two of them, ever since college when they met less regularly than they would in high school, albeit more imposed by her than anything. Their friendship is tighter than they would ever care to admit to anyone else, having been with each other through most of everything in their young life, and their foursome included Miyu and Yuuya. But as Ran saw them more often than the brown-haired man—Miyu always around in her house as if already a sister even before she and Yamato got together, and Yuuya was her then-boyfriend. With Rei, she made more effort to stay as a close friend.

So when he was the one to ask if their weekly coffee hang out was going to happen that day, she was honestly pleasantly surprised he remembered (if only because she completely forgot). In fact, he was already there when she arrived under one of the umbrella tables outside the café. They've always preferred the afternoon breeze, when the sun is on the other side of the city, than the air-conditioned chill of the inside of the café.

"Yo!" she merrily greets.

He tilts his head upward to acknowledge her arrival.

"Aren't you chipper in the afternoon?" she notes sarcastically.

"You should see me in the morning," Rei plays along. "I'm a fucking joy to be around."

"You and me both." She proceeds go inside to purchase her own cup of coffee as well as a sticky chocolate cinnamon roll to go with it, and when she comes back outside a fourth has already been eaten off the roll.

There was a snicker from Rei as he types on his phone and Ran tries to take a peek, inclining her head to her left where Rei was situated, but couldn't see anything. Instead she asks, "Who's that?"

"Aya," he easily responds. "And Tatsuki. Tatsuki made this chat group between the three of us and has been sending pictures of Aya from when they were younger to embarrass and annoy her."

He doesn't see the face she makes when he brings them up. "You've gotten really close to them," it was more a statement than a question.

"Hn," Rei shrugs, his eyes still glued on his phone. "I've been having lunch there a lot more lately. Which is great because it's free. Sometimes Yuuya joins us."

"I see," she says. "So, aside from lunches with the wedding planner and the caterer, what have you been up to?"

He puts his phone down for a while, which pleases the orange-haired woman. "Nothing much. Work is work. But I was recently dragged into a karaoke night with those two and their other friend, Mami."

"Oh yeah?"

He nods. She probably can't even imagine him voluntarily go to a karaoke bar. She's tried, and failed, and she can be very persuasive. "Actually, Yuuya followed us. It seems like he's already met Mami before," he added as an afterthought.

"Probably for wedding stuff. I've met her too," she absently says. "A bit overbearing if you ask me. But great fashion sense."

"Tatsuki can't carry a tune to save his life," Rei says before taking a sip from his Americano. "Which is probably why Mami tries to steal the mic from him every chance she gets."

"Ah," her tone was noncommittal.

"Aya was a little bummed her boyfriend cancelled on her again," he continues before checking his phone for a reply that hasn't come. She mentally notes that he's unusually talkative. "So Mami tried to get her drunk."

"Rei," she cuts him. "I don't really want to hear about them."

He raises an eyebrow, not missing the beat in her tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"So far you've only told me things about your new friends. I want to hear about _you_."

"They are what's new about me, Ran." His tone had a hint of annoyance, but he tries his best to suppress it.

She frowns, a little disappointed, and she sees that Rei caught the expression in her eyes.

"That's not fair," he says. "I'm allowed to have friends other than you guys."

His words make her stiffen, a little hurt at the accusation but she brushes it aside. "That's not what I meant. It's not that you're making new friends, but it feels like you've forgotten that we're your friends too. It's like I'm no longer a part of your life."

The last words uttered create a strained expression on the groomsman's face which Ran couldn't quite identify. "I don't think you get to lecture me on that, Ran," he says, voice low and tone accusing.

Taken aback, she immediately questions, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

He falls silent momentarily, realizing that he might have just been too hasty with his words. He rubs his eyes, sighing before reluctantly explaining, "You guys were the ones who left me out of the loop when you and Yuuya broke up, remember? You purposely excluded me from being a 'part of your life' then."

The hurt on her face is evident, and she remembers exactly what he was talking about.

"And until now, I still haven't heard from you the real reason you broke up with him," he adds. She opens her mouth to try to say something, but she immediately closes it without uttering a word. "You know I never bought the excuse that you wanted to explore the world beyond Yuuya."

She swallows. "Now that's not fair."

"How can it be fair when you kept it from me?"

"You were about to get married," she says, her voice soft, deviating from her usual outspoken demeanor. Bringing up Rei's past and making it an excuse was probably the wrong move, and she knows that. Except, it's also the truth. "And then she left you. You were heartbroken."

"Did you think I wouldn't be able to sympathize with you? Or that I wouldn't understand?"

"Of course not!" she says at once. "We just didn't want to give you more burden and pain that you were already bearing."

They've had this conversation before. Once. Things got heated and wounds were reopened, hurtful things were said and it took a while to get back to some sort of normal. For the longest time since then, they've all been striving for normal. They let the silence linger a little longer, letting their emotions subside and regain their calm. This wasn't the catch-up Ran was hoping to come out of their Thursday coffee.

"Before all of that, I don't think there was any important secret we kept from each other." His voice was somber.

She was staring at her still coffee, her thumb rubbing off the lipstick stain she made on the cup when suddenly an empty chortle came from her throat. "How did we get from there to here?" she asks without any expectation of an acceptable answer.

He contemplates her question nonetheless, gazing at the cloudy sky as he sunk into his seat, contemplating that it would soon turn to a dark shade of blue. "We've changed," was all he could offer. "We've started shutting each other out—Yuuya's not telling us who he's been seeing, you're barely around and I'm… I've let myself drift away from you guys."

The honest answer caught her by surprise, but it didn't mean it was any less true. She knows that the reason she kept herself busy was to avoid Yuuya and not make it anymore painful for him. And she barely saw them because she didn't want to take away from Yuuya the time he spent hanging around their friends, especially since she was the one that ended things with him. However, they've been doing a lot better at hanging around each other, much thanks to the upcoming wedding. In fact, if it wasn't for Miyu and Yamato's wedding, they wouldn't have a reason to see each other as often as they have for the past couple of months.

"Is that why you've been hanging out with Aya and the caterer more often now?" she asks still absently rubbing the rim of the cup even though the pink stain was already gone. There was no judgment in her voice, but just a candid desire to know.

It wasn't an answer that came easily for him. "It's just easier, hanging around them. To them, I'm not the friend that was left by his fiancée. I'm just a friend they met through their client." His face was solemn. "And it's nice," he says thoughtfully.

"What is?"

"Being someone new," he replies earnestly, still looking at the sky. "Someone normal again."

Something in the way he said those words makes her heart sink, and it makes her feel that she hasn't been a good friend if one of her best friends feels like he can't be himself around her.

"I don't want to lose you, Rei," she says honestly finally looking at him. Those were words that don't often come out of her mouth.

He straightens his posture, lowering his head to look at her face carefully. "You're not," he says in what he hopes was a reassuring tone. "We can go weeks without talking to each other, and we'd still be fine."

Her fingers tighten the grip on the coffee cup as she bit her lip. "But I don't want to miss out on the things that happen in your life," she says immediately, matching his reasoning. "And I don't want you to miss out on mine."

"I talk to you about the big things, important things that happen to me," he says hoping to comfort her. "Isn't that what's important?"

"Sometimes I want to hear about the other things too, Rei. Even if they're not that important."

He sighs, and she knows she's being fair. Friendship isn't built on just the big things that happen in one's life; the little things matter too, because little things lead to the big ones, and Ran knows that.

He scrunches his eyes and rubs the bridge of her nose as he considers thoughtfully, "I tried having brunch last Sunday with my parents. It was fun, actually, but I don't recommend the restaurant. Work is killing me lately because of this project that was due last Friday, so I'm glad that's over. Yamato, Yuuya and I went to our first fitting for the tuxes, which honestly, I don't know why we can't just wear our own ones, it's going to be way less costly for them. Also, I was told that blue wasn't my color, whatever that means. Yuuya managed to somehow convince me to go hiking with him last weekend, but he didn't wake up. If you ask me, he was probably with that girl he's been seeing."

She waits for him to add more, and when he doesn't, her expression softens, a smile creeping on her face. "Thank you."

He doesn't say anything, but tilts his head in acknowledgment.

She takes a sip of her coffee, hoping it hasn't gotten too cold. "So Yuuya's been seeing someone lately?" she asks in a casual tone, putting down the cup carefully. "This is the first time I'm hearing this."

"It's not like I told him you've been dating someone either."

Her shrug was noncommittal. "Yeah, that's over now."

Raising an eyebrow at the unexpected revelation, he watches her as she mimics the expression on his face as if asking him a mental _what?_ "Is that so?" he asks slowly. "Since when?"

"Last week?" it comes out as a question even if she wasn't expecting an answer. "It kinda gets blurry after a while. He wanted to make it official, and I'm like… _nah._ "

"Ah," was the only sound he makes, looking at her carefully.

She raises an eyebrow at him. "What's with that sound?"

He shrugs. "Nothing. It's a noncommittal sound, Ran."

"Are you sure you have nothing else to say?" she asks, daring him.

He sighs, knowing her tendency to be defensive about her life choices. She knows he's smart enough not to take the bait. "When you start keeping a relationship that lasts longer than four months, ask me again, then maybe I'll have something to comment." For the sake of his own sanity, he doesn't make a expound. "You can date whomever you want, just as long as he's good to you. Because the moment he's not… I know you'll have beat him to a pulp."

And that was as cheesy as Rei Otohata, as a friend, could probably get. But they weren't the cheesy kind, so she'll take what she can get.

"So," Ran says cautiously, bringing them back to the topic at hand. "Who's the girl Yuuya's been dating?"

If there was any strange lilt in her tone, Rei was generous enough to ignore it. "Honestly, I don't know. He's been secretive about this one."

Well, there weren't many secrets about Yuuya's dating life after Ran as it was almost non-existent. They always joke that it's because he's still waiting for his corn-haired ex to get back with him, so most of his dating life after Ran consisted of a few dates, a couple of blind ones here and there, and a lot of heavy, but otherwise harmless, flirting with other girls. So this Yuuya, sneaky and unforthcoming, is a whole new territory for either of them.

"Well," she lets the pause linger a little too long, thinking. "It's good that he's finally dating again." And she means it.

There was always that small fear in the back of her mind that Yuuya will never be okay after they broke up. The cheerful guise he puts up and all the innuendos he makes in jest were always his way of coping with a painful situation. So hearing that, finally, Yuuya seems to be putting himself out there as well is a big relief.

"If you could even call it that," he adds casually, leaning back on his chair after taking another sip of coffee.

"Huh?"

He shrugs, letting his left cheek lean on his closed fist that rests on top of the arm of the chair. "It would be a stretch to call it dating," he says. "But then again, maybe this isn't something I should talk about with his ex."

She makes a face, a mix of a frown and a pout. "You're my best friend, you're obliged to tell me these things."

"I'm his best friend too," he points out to her with a small chuckle. "And while we're on that topic, maybe you should tell me, your best friend, the real reason why the two of you broke up."

Her frown reverts back into a straight line. She didn't like being vulnerable. But she also hated being a hypocrite, keeping this long secret from him after she lectured him about keeping things from her.

There was an internal battle as goes between opening her mouth to say something and closing it when she hesitates. Finally words come out of her, "He was going to propose." It comes out as a whisper.

Rei's eyes grow wide, the revelation clearly something new to him.

"It was around a week before, well, you know. I saw the box and the ring hidden in his necktie drawer—"

"He has a necktie drawer?" he interrupts.

She snaps at him. "Seriously, that's your take away?"

He laughs at her outburst. "I'm kidding," he says, watching her cool down. "So you saw it and you freaked, seems normal to me. Why didn't you just tell him you weren't ready to get married?"

Breathing slowly, she takes her time to gather her thoughts. "It's not that I wasn't ready, Rei. It's that I don't want to get married."

"Not ever?" Marriage was something that ever came up in their years of friendship, or at least not in a conversation between the two of them.

"No," her voice was weak. "I didn't want to marry Yuuya."

Silence fell once again between the two long time friends. She searches his eyes for something, a clue to what he was thinking now that he knows why she ended things with his other best friend. She doesn't find it.

Instead, she continues to explain. "It's not like I knew it from the start, that I didn't want to marry him. Yuuya, he's always been there since high school—constant, familiar, safe. And it was fine, the way we were, until I saw the ring," she bites her lips when he still hasn't said anything. "Apparently he has all these plans that I don't know about, plans I wasn't consulted on, plans I might not actually want to be a part of. And I realized, maybe I never really saw _that_ kind of future with him, and that it wasn't fair to keep him thinking like I was any longer. So before he can even propose, I ended it."

There was no more she could add to that, so she waited for him to say something.

"Are you sure you would have said 'no'?"

Hesitant, she lifts her head to a small but clear nod, immediately becoming still thereafter.

He lets out a defeated breath he's been holding in, as he lifts his head from where it rested to use the now-free hand to rub the bridge of his nose. "I suppose that's why he's my best friend," he scoffs. "We're both trying to marry women who don't want to marry us. You can't fake common interests like that."

"You know it's not like that," she says weakly.

"That what is it supposed to be like?" he asks her, but she had no answer to offer. "So that's it? You just knew that you wanted out so you up and left him high and dry?"

She swallows a lump in her throat. "It's not like it was something I easily decided, Rei. It was hard for me too. And making that decision tore me apart. But I knew it was something I had to do." When he doesn't speak, it makes her feel heavier inside. "You're judging me for the decision I made, but I know it was what's best for us."

He flinches upon hearing her words. "You sure about that?" There was clearly venom in his voice.

"Fine!" she exclaims, upset. "If you think it's so unfair then, go ahead, let me face trial. But I did it for the both of us. I can't let him propose and then say no, and tell him 'It's not that I'm not ready for marriage, I just don't think I want to marry _you_ '. That's what I should've done, right? That's what _she_ should've done?" Tears were forming by the rim of her eyes, and she desperately tries to hold them back.

A painful silence lingers while their bore into each other's eyes. Ran bit her lip as she waited for him to say something, and it takes him a while to absorb what she had said.

He lets out a small breath. "Tell me, do you think she also just 'knew' that she didn't want to marry me?" His voice was soft, the venomous tone completely gone and has been replaced by aching honesty.

Bringing _her_ up again wasn't what she intended, and she definitely did not want to open that wound up, but she knows that he was projecting himself into the situation that Ran and Yuuya had, and it was probably for good reason.

"Rei," she says, the temper earlier displayed now disappearing. "I can't answer that—"

"Do you just get to decide that it's over? Doesn't he get a right to fight for you? At the very least you should have explained why it had to end, you know?" There was pain in his voice. "The answer may not be acceptable to us, but at least we knew why. It's the fact that we didn't know why that kills us."

Ran knew he wasn't only talking about her and Yuuya.

"I'm sorry," was all she could say. "If I'm like her, I'm sorry."

The regret in his eyes was showing. "You're not her," he assures Ran as he shakes his head.

She could tell he was sincere, and it made a small smile creep in her face. "There were times when I thought I was."

He shakes his head again. "You gave him a reason, at least, even though it was only half the truth. And you didn't disappear in his life," he makes a comparison. "You're far from her."

Ran mouths a small thank you, wiping the liquid orbs around the corners of her eyes. And he smiles for her, a small and knowing smile that makes the heaviness in her chest disappear. They let their emotions subside before talking again.

Hesitating, she carefully words her next question poking her long forgotten cinnamon roll on the table. "Do you still want to know the reason now? The reason why she left."

He thoughtfully considers her question, and comes up with this answer, "I don't know." She doesn't say anything, letting him collect his thoughts. "Before recently, I would have done anything to just understand why she left—to know what I did wrong, what I could have done to make her stay. But thinking about it know, I just don't know what I'll even do with that answer. Will it make me feel better? Will it make me forgive her? Will it make me forgive myself? I honestly don't know."

"Do you think Yuuya will still want to know why now?"

He looks at her with searching eyes, looking for what, she doesn't know. The groomsman shrugs when he doesn't find what he's looking for. "I can't say… But I know that he still has feelings for you that he's desperately trying to move on from."

She gives him an apologetic look.

He shakes his head. "It's going to get better," he says. "It has to, right?"

Reassuringly, she says, "It will."

"I'm moving out of my apartment, by the way," he brings up out of the blue, taking the maid-of-honor by surprise as shown by the way she drops her fork on the plate. "Yeah… I'm finally letting go of that apartment."

She smiles widely. "That's really great, Rei."

He nods, rubbing the back of his neck just where his hairline stops. "Yeah, it's just not practical to rent an apartment that big for just me."

"Where are you moving into?"

"There's this apartment just a few blocks away from my office. A single bedroom, and with pretty decent furnishings," he says. "It's a lot cheaper too."

"Alright, I'm already looking forward to the housewarming party!" grins Ran.

Rei frowns. "Don't you dare give me phallic decorations for a housewarming gift, I swear, Ran—"

She snickers widely. "I'm sure Yamato liked the ones I gave him."

"No, he didn't," he disagreed. "And Miyu placed them away in a box."

"I saw this one that was a rhino standing on a—"

"I will throw it away," he dares.

She just laughs, and it makes him laugh a little too. "I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks."

"But I do have a gift for you right now," she wears on her face a sly smile.

"Oh god," Rei mutters, sinking back into his seat.

She waves his her in front of his face as his shooing his negativity away. "No, no, this is a good thing!"

She moves closer to him, sitting by the edge of her seat. "I have a friend I want you to meet," she casually says. He groans knowing what she means. "She's great, I promise! She's someone I met at a conference I went to a month ago."

"I don't want to go on a blind date—"

"Just meet her, Rei," her tone now pleading. "You might actually like her."

He shakes his head, "No."

She frowns, crossing her arms against her chest. "Well, you don't have a choice," she huffs. "Because she's on her way here now."

"What?" he groans in disbelief. "Nope, you're not setting me up, Kotobuki."

He prepares to stand him, pushing his chair back when the corn-haired girl reaches for his wrist. "Please, Rei. Give it a chance. You have to give dating a chance again some day."

"Ran," he exhales.

"You've already made one big step with the apartment," she points out. "This is the next step. Take it."

His dark chocolate eyes scan her orange ones, narrowing them as he glares. "Fine, I'll meet her, but no promises."

"Thank you," was all she says.

He sits back down, sinking into his chair while Ran checks her phone.

"She says she'll be here in five."

Rei's own phone makes a beeping tone, and Ran sneaks a peak to see who it was, finding that her brother's wedding planner has sent a picture to, what she assumes is, their conversation he earlier talked about. He takes his phone, swiping it to check the message, and she catches him smiling at the image he just saw.

"Aya?" she asks.

He nods. "She sent a picture of Tatsuki from back in high school. It's quite funny actually."

He doesn't see her smile at his response, his attention locked to the conversation as he types away.

"Maybe you should invite them to my birthday," she gestures. "They're your friends. I want to get to know them to."

Her sudden invitation makes him look up from his phone, an eyebrow arched. "You sure?"

"Yeah," she affirms. "I don't mind. Tell them Yuuya, Yamato and Miyu are also invited so they won't be too shy to come."

"Okay, if that's what you want."

He gets back to the message at hand when suddenly a new voice calls for Ran's name from behind him.

"Sorry, I'm late!" the voice says. Ran stands up to greet the woman who had just arrived as Rei finishes to type his response to the conversation on his phone.

"It's okay," reassures Ran.

Rei finally lets his phone down to meet Ran's friend. The woman is shorter than Ran by a couple of inches, and she has dark blonde hair and round blue eyes. Her hair is cut at shoulder length, framing her small face perfectly.

"Rei, this is Hana. Hana, Rei," Ran introduces the two to each other, gesturing between them.

She extends her arm out for a handshake, "Nice to meet you, Rei."

Rei gives a courteous smile, "Likewise, Hana."

"Alrighty," claps Ran. "Why don't we sit so we can comfortably talk?"


	8. Chapter 8: You Take All Of Me Now

**Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

A/N: Hello, everyone! Here's another chapter and hopefully I didn't make you wait too long. I've been a little busy so writing's been slow on this compared to my last few updates. But rest assured I won't leave this story hanging! Also, to address the comment that things have been moving a little slow, it's only because I wanted to create moments, and I want the way they fall for each other make sense and be more realistic than "love at first sight" or those kinds of things. So I hope you understand. Things are moving along in my timeline, really, so please bear with me!

As always, I would really appreciate you telling me what you think. Thank you very much! I hope you enjoy this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own GALS! nor any of its characters. Neither do I own the song "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse.

* * *

" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _You Take All Of Me Now_**

* * *

"Blue tie," she says as Rei Otohata holds up two ties, one of a dark blue shade and another of a forest green tone. "No, the green one."

She hears him sigh as her indecisiveness worsens. "Just pick one," he urges. "It doesn't really matter."

Aya insisted that he come by before he heads out for his first date with Hana since he mentioned that he hasn't been on a first date with anyone since his ex-fiancée. She didn't actually think he'll take her up on the offer, but there was by her doorstep when she opened the door of her apartment on the ring of her doorbell. Now minutes later he's standing in the middle of the living room holding out two choices for a tie, while she's sitting in her beige sectional sofa making the choice.

"Green one, definitely," she finally decides smiling. "Brings out your eyes better."

The doorbell rings anew and Aya gets up to check on the new arrival while Rei tries to put on Aya's choice of tie.

"Yo!" greets Tatsuki who let himself inside after Aya opened the door. "Alright, let's get this date going!"

Rei winces at the word _date_ as he watched Tatsuki make his way to the couch holding his six-pack of beer. "You think that the best way to prepare me for this date is making me drink beer?" the groomsman asks incredulously.

"This?" Tatsuki lifts the cans to his face. "Nah, this is for me while I enjoy the play-by-play you're going to be sending me through text of your first date with this Hana girl." Rei huffs in disbelief. "Oh and send me a picture, I want to see how she looks like."

"Hey, stop that, Tatsu!" chides Aya as she makes her way back to the couch. "It's his first date in a long time," she remarks. "You should have brought more beer. This might just be a train wreck."

He frowns at both of them. "Ah, so now I only serve as entertainment for the both of you, huh?"

They laugh. "Just messing with you, buddy," reassures Tatsuki. "But man, you must be really nervous about this date."

Rei exhales, still fumbling on his tie. "Not nervous, just… well, let's just say I'm not really looking forward to putting myself out there again."

"Is she not pretty?" asks Tatsuki. "She must not be pretty."

Rei glares at him for making another joke. But the chef ignores it while he goes to the kitchen to put the cans inside the fridge. Meanwhile, Aya gives him a sympathetic smile, standing up to come over to where he stood.

"Here," she says softly, taking the green cloth from his hands, making their hands slightly brush against each other upon contact. His gaze is directed to the ceiling, making it difficult for him to notice the slight blush that creeps up Aya's porcelain skin. "Let me."

With deft hands, she makes sure the tie is properly tucked inside the collar before crossing one side over the other.

"I should just back out," he whispers so that only she can hear. "I'm not sure I'm ready to do this again."

Next was a loop. "You'll be fine," she insists, pulling the tie into the loop. "It's just one date."

"I don't even like wearing ties," he laughs a little as he feels her tug at the piece of cloth. "See, I'm already putting up false pretenses. It's not a good sign of things to come."

She sighs. "Your leather jacket doesn't exactly scream out 'five star restaurant.' Plus, it's not a bad thing to make a good first impression."

He finds something funny in her words that she can't figure out. "Ah, kinda like how you made a first impression on me?" he grins as he takes a step back so that that he can take a better look at her. "If I remember correctly, you didn't quite make a good first impression."

The memory strikes a tinge of embarrassment for the wedding planner. Blushing, she retorts, "We weren't on a date, so forgive me for not being a little more presentable."

Her defensiveness only seems to amuse him further, which, in return, just keeps making her red. "To be fair, you walking barefoot on a stone cold balcony was a little charming," he smiles.

And she doesn't know if it's the way he smiles at her, or the fact that his words were somewhat making her heart skip a beat, but when Tatsuki returns to the living room with a bowl of popcorn he had just microwaved, she feels as if her blonde friend had just ruined a very nice moment happening between her and the groomsman. She is unable to justify to herself the feeling of disappointment that overcomes her.

"That also for the rodeo that's going to be my date?" jokes Rei when he sees Tatsuki with the popcorn.

"Uh-huh."

"Good to know," says Rei.

Tatsuki grins as he plops down to the couch. "But in the spirit of our friendship," Tatsuki adds, "if you need to be saved from your date—which I know you will—just send me an SOS text, and I will call you with a fake emergency." The brunette raises a suspicious brow. "Oh don't worry, I've had practice with Mami. She had me call her with all sorts of excuses whenever she's in a date-gone-wrong."

Rei didn't seem convinced, but Tatsuki winks at him for some sort of reassurance.

Aya had felt this was the best time to finally speak again. "Don't listen to him," she says giving him a supportive tap on the shoulder. "You're going to be fine."

Rei sighs unconvinced.

"Well, for what it's worth, you might have more fun than me tonight," says Tatsuki as he makes himself comfortable on the couch, hugging the throw pillow while he drank his beer.

"If you're planning to watch a play like the one you brought us to last time, then I'm pretty sure I will."

The blonde feigns offense by grabbing a fistful of shirt somewhere close to where his heart should be. "Low blow man," he shakes his head to the laughter of his friends. "But no, I am here tonight to help Aya sift through her possible applications."

Upon hearing this, Rei turns his gaze to the raven-haired women beside him in a questioning look, while Aya, taken aback by the sudden betrayal, throws the blue tie she unconsciously grabs from Rei's hand. "Traitor," she declares. "It was supposed to be a secret."

Blinking, the blonde realizes his mistake, and offers a silent apology. On the other hand, the groomsman is still looking at her curiously.

"It's nothing," she offers to Rei. "I'm not even sure I'm going to apply."

"To what?"

"Well, I'm considering trying to take a few courses on interior design," she says shyly, avoiding his curious gaze. She's a little embarrassed to tell others that she wants take some classes to help her be better at her business. "Or you know, anything that will help me gain more credentials. I don't really know yet." With her head still down, she makes her way back to the couch, taking the empty space beside her best friend.

He doesn't offer a response immediately, which makes her feel even more embarrassed. After all, going back to school, even just for select courses, after shifting careers? Even she's not too convinced at the idea—

"Sounds great," Rei says casually, offering no hint of a smile but nonetheless making her finally look up to meet his gaze. "You want to better yourself at something you like to do. That's pretty amazing."

She hadn't expected him to say something like that. Aya imagined that, like most other people around her, they would say she's just wasting her time and resources, and that she's too late in the game to start studying for her new business, and that she should just go back to her old career. But Rei wasn't like that, and he wouldn't know just how much she appreciated it.

"Right?" exclaims Tatsuki raising his beer can to the groomsman. "I keep telling her that, but she keeps doubting herself."

"If it's what you want to do, then just do it," Rei encourages. "If it's not hurting anyone, then no one should ever make you feel bad for that."

She smiles in spite of herself. "Alright, alright, enough about me. Shouldn't you get going for your date?"

Reminded of the time, Rei checks the watch on his wrist, and indeed he had to leave. Sighing, he says, "Alright. If this all goes down south, save me some of that beer you got."

Tatsuki raises his beer can in solidarity. "Will do."

When he leaves, Aya and Tatsuki settle on the couch to go over some of the pamphlets they've gathered, checking out some programs talking about different possibilities. The prospect excites Aya a little more now, especially after Rei's words. She feels she's finally getting a hold of this risk-taking thing, and realizing that there's just so many doors she hasn't opened or didn't know she can until now.

It was a knock on the door (for the third time that night) that gets them out of the zone. "He's back already? And he didn't even send us an SOS," jokes Tatsuki.

They were, however, more surprised to see Mami on the other side of the door. "Hey, you," Aya greets her golden haired friend. "What brings you here?"

But the heiress doesn't answer her, and instead, with a frown on her face, makes her way to where Tatsuki is, taking his newly opened beer can (his second that night) from his hand and taking a big swig for herself.

"Nice to see you too," Tatsuki utters in curious suspicion. "And you're welcome, by the way."

Aya makes her way back to the sectional couch, taking the other side since Mami had taken her spot. "I thought you had a date or something tonight," she says resting her arm on the top of the couch so she can lean against her fist.

"I did," Mami says through gritted teeth. "But I got stood up."

They gasp. Never in their entire life have they heard the words 'I got stood up' from Mami's mouth (it was usually the other way around) because who would want to stand Mami up on a date, right? She's beautiful, and rich… but most importantly she's rather scary when she gets mad. But what was weirder for them was her sulking about a date that stood her up when she would normally go to the club and party the night away. Mami had never been to upfront with her love life, but it was probably because she's never liked a guy enough to introduce to them knowing those guys will never be in her life long enough to strike up a relationship with her friends.

But this one was different. She's been seeing this particular guy for a while now they suspect—unnamed and a secret, unlike previous flings where she would at least drop the guy's first name.

"He did what?" gasps Tatsuki. "Well, time to call in the hitmen!"

"I would," says Mami in frustration. "But they're all on a job right now."

Aya frowns at the very sordid jokes her friends were making. "Did he say why he stood you up?"

Mami shakes her head. "He doesn't need to," she answers. "It's probably something to do with the ex-girlfriend he's still hung up on."

Aya and Tatsuki give each other a knowing glace. "Are you," treads Aya carefully. "Jealous?"

"What—me? What?" Mami gapes, trying to sound offended. "I don't get jealous. I'm Mami Honda."

Her reactions cause Aya and Tatsuki to give each other a knowing look. "Oh my god, you are jealous!" exclaims Tatsuki. "Mami Honda is jealous of some chick she doesn't even know. This calls for another beer."

Golden eyes slit narrowly, glaring at the blonde chef and his remarks. "I hate you," she says throwing at him the empty can of beer she earlier took from her friend.

"Hey!" Aya calls out. "You'll stain my couch!"

But neither of the owner's two friends cared. At least Tatsuki was courteous enough to take the empty can and throw it on his way to fetch another one.

"So," Tatsuki calls from the kitchen area after taking a beer from the fridge. "You really like this guy, huh?"

Mami sighs knowing her friends can read through her. "I wouldn't say that, well, I mean, I can't say that I do or that I don't. But…"

"But?" Aya asks curiously. You see, Mami isn't the type of girl to fall for a guy as easily—maybe it's because her dad had set a high standard for her, or maybe it's because she's dated guys she knows are only interested in either money or sex. So she's built a wall. And on that wall she built the façade of a girl who only wants to have fun and enjoy life (well, she really does), but her friends knew that deep down, she did want to find something more meaningful.

Her hands started fiddling with each other, something she does when she's nervous. "But he's a great guy, you know? He's not like any other guy I've been with. He's genuine, and doesn't know how not to treat a girl properly. He's always careful not to offend, and always asking if what he's doing is okay. This guy loves a girl who broke his heart, and I know, in a heart beat, he would come to her whenever she'd call. And… Crap, I'm drabbling, aren't I?" she bites her lower lip. "Ugh, this is so not me."

Aya smiles while Tatsuki laughs, they've never seen Mami so vulnerable when it comes to a guy. It was almost unreal. "It's okay, Mami," reassures Aya.

"It's just—God, I can't believe I'm about to say this—Sometimes I find myself wanting to be that girl he cares so much about," Mami says, blushing furiously at her revelation.

Tatsuki fakes a gasp. "Mami Honda, strong and independent I-don't-need-a-man-to-make-me-happy Mami Honda, wants some guy to care for her?" he teases, and it didn't go unpunished by Mami. "Ow!"

"Next time I'm punching something other than your arm."

He rubs his arm tenderly. "Geez, Mami. It was a joke," he says.

"It's not just some guy," Mami whispers. "This guy. Him. I think I like him. And I hate that he likes someone else. What's wrong with me, Aya? How do I handle this?"

Aya's face soften. She's never seen Mami so unsure of herself, it was like their Mami has been replaced by some other version of her from another dimension. "Come here," the raven-haired says, pulling her troubled friend in an embrace. "Nothing is wrong with you. You like someone, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"No," Mami says pulling away from the embrace, and this time fully facing Aya, pulling up her legs to cross one over the other. "I mean, how do I stop these abnormal feelings of mine?"

Aya and Tatsuki laugh once again at the fact that Mami's so used to getting her way that she thinks she can order her feelings to stop at a whim. "I don't think that's how feelings work, Mami."

The golden haired beauty frowns at the idea that there's something she can't stop at will.

"I know," offers Tatsuki, and Mami turns her head around to look at the chef. "Why don't you just ask him out on a date?"

Her face squints in disappointment at his suggestion. "We were supposed to have dinner tonight, remember?"

Tatsuki laughs again at the thought of Mami getting stood up (again, it was an idea so foreign he didn't think it was possible). "No, that's not what I meant. By date I mean actual dating, you know, not just dinner before _you know_ , not just the sex, but actual dating—getting to know him, going out publicly, all those gooey stuff."

"Yeah, but he's still hung up on his ex," Mami points out the flaw in his plan.

"But it's his _ex._ He has to move on from her soon enough," Tatsuki counters. "Why not with you?"

"I don't want to be someone's second choice."

"Being the second choice is what your secret rendezvous is all about," Aya chimes in. Mami turns to look at Aya this time, surprised that she knew (she didn't really, but she had an inkling). "But an actual relationship? Not so much."

Mami frowns at the idea. It's not that it was a bad idea, rather she's the one who's bad at relationships.

"Just think about it," reassures Aya.

Mami sighs, her shoulders sinking as does she on the couch. "You know how I hate thinking."

They all laugh, seeing as their friend still has her humor in all of this.

"You'll do fine," says Aya, hugging Mami from the side, her head leaning on her friend's shoulder.

"You think so?"

"You're Mami Honda, remember?" grins Tatsuki.

"And you guys aren't half bad," Mami says with a pout. And they both raise their eyebrows at the comment, until she finally says, "Just kidding. You guys are pretty awesome." Aya pulls her friend in another hug.

So Mami stays over for a little while longer, forgetting all about being stood up and just enjoying a little catch up and some beer session with her friends. However, an hour or so in, Takato arrives unexpectedly.

"Babe!" Aya calls when Takato enters the apartment, likewise surprised to see that his girlfriend has company. "I thought you had a meeting?"

He makes his way to the couch, acknowledging the presence of Tatsuki and Mami with a smile and mouthing some greetings. "They ended early because my boss got called in by some investors. We'll resume the meeting early tomorrow, and I decided to drop by your place," he smiles, dipping his head down to give Aya a peck on the lips. "Hope I'm not intruding."

"You're not!" says Aya quickly, happy at the prospect of spending some time with her boyfriend.

"Definitely not," agrees Tatsuki, more than willing to let his two friends get some quality time. "Shall we go, Mami?"

"Wait, why do I have to—" But Tatsuki gives her a look before she could even finish her sentence. She frowns. "Ugh, fine. I guess I'm going too."

"You guys don't have to go," Takato says kindly. "Really."

"It's fine, Takato," smiles Tatsuki. "You and Aya enjoy the night, okay?"

With goodnights said, Aya and Takato were finally alone in Aya's apartment. They talk about their respective days and some other topics that were brought up along with it. It was the first time in the past four days that Aya got to see her boyfriend, and she was glad that he was there tonight.

The doorbell rings anew and they figure it was the pizza he had ordered since he hadn't had dinner yet coming from his meeting. Takato goes to the door to pay and take the pizza, and when he comes back, he piles the pieces of paper on the coffee table to make space for the pizza box, and that's when he notices the pamphlets.

"What are these?" he asks, taking one of them to read.

Surprised when she sees her boyfriend read the pamphlets, she darts up from her lying down position on the couch, but it was too late, he's read them. "Takato, wait—I can explain."

"You're planning to go back to school?" he asks, an incredulous tone building up in his voice. "What are you going to study?"

"Takato," she tries, but there was no escaping this conversation. "I don't know yet. I'm just looking around for courses to help me with my business."

"You're events planning business," he says, more a statement than a question.

She swallows. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Now her stance was a little more defensive: arms crossed in front of her as she stood up, walking behind the couch to create some distance between the two of them. He sighs, "It's not that it's a bad thing, Aya."

"You just don't approve of it."

He shakes his head. "We had plans, Aya."

She clutches her arms further, trying to stop the tears from falling from her eyes. "Sometimes plans don't go according to plan."

"Please, Aya. Can we both just sit down and talk about this?" he asks tiredly. "This isn't the kind of decisions you make on your own, we have to talk about these things."

Aya can't believe she's hearing this. "Seriously?" she laughs dryly running her hands through her long dark hair. "You've been making career moves this whole time without consulting me, and you're talking about me making decisions on my own?"

"Aya—" Takato tries to say, his voice now softer and a little remorseful. She's sure it wasn't his intention for the night to turn out the way it did.

"Look, clearly you're not supporting me on this—"

"That's not what I meant—" he tries to make her listen. "I was just surprised that you—"

"Takato," Aya interjects, and she closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath. "We should call it a night before we both say things we'll regret."

She opens her eyes and she sees the look of disappointment in his, and it just kills her that all she's been doing for the past year was disappoint him, except that this time, she's a little disappointed too. They both stare at each other a little longer, unmoving and searching, searching for something to help them save them from this fight, but both were coming up empty handed.

It was Takato that speaks first. "Okay," he yields. "I will get going then."

She nods as she holds on to the back of her couch for support, feeling the weight of the air around them bring her down. He takes a step towards her, she notices, but he's unsure, and she's just as unsure if she'd want him to continue. Maybe he can sense her unease so he doesn't follow through, and instead he turns around and heads for the door.

"Good night," she hears him say while his back was turned. She wants to tell him something, anything, but she can't seem to find the voice in her throat, so she just watches him leave. And when he's out the door that's when she breaks down on her couch, and she wishes her friends didn't leave as she hugs her throw pillows and let her tears stain the covers.

It was the light on her phone which meant that a message had been sent to her which makes her get up.

 _ **I'm sorry…**_

And she wants to reply, she really does. But what was she to say? She was sorry they fought but she wasn't sorry that she was changing their plans a bit (after all, it's not like things always went according to her plans then). So she turns the screen off telling herself she'll reply tomorrow.

Then she remembers that a certain brunette was out on a date, and she hasn't heard from him yet. She turns on her screen and scrolls down to the inbox until he finds his name and types out a message.

 _ **Still needing that SOS? The beer's waiting for you here.**_

Watching the screen carefully, she sees that the message had been successfully sent. And she doesn't know what comes over her as she eagerly waits for him to reply, hoping that he would actually come.

So she waited a few more minutes.

And she finally hears that familiar buzz, and she's only too eager to see what he'd sent.

 _ **Holding out my own, apparently. I'll take you and Tatsuki up on that beer next time.**_

Aya reads the text again and again, until it sunk in that he was actually enjoying his date, and even more so the fact that he wasn't coming back to her apartment that night. It wasn't until a tear fell from her face that she realized what she was feeling: disappointment.

The strange thing was, she was more disappointed that he's actually having a nice date than anything else that happened that night.


	9. Chapter 9: There's Nothing Else To Lose

**Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

Yay! Here's an update before I start my finals week. I just want to put out a thank you to those who reviewed my last update, your words were so kind and inspiring. Your words help me want to finish up a chapter and get one uploaded as soon as possible.

I hope you enjoy this one just as much as the last chapter. Don't forget to leave me your thoughts!

Disclaimer: I do not own GALS! nor any of its characters. Neither do I own the song "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse.

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" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _There's Nothing Else To Lose_**

* * *

The bright neon signs were just as lively as the noise coming from inside the pub, which she could hear from where she stood just outside. She wasn't supposed to go, really, but Rei insisted that Ran would love to have them at her birthday celebration, and Tatsuki really wanted an excuse to go out and meet new people, so she agreed. Except now, Tatsuki bailed on her and she's standing alone outside a pub for a party where she most likely didn't know more than half of the people there in the cold winter night, probably looking silly to the smokers around her.

A buzzing sensation startles her, and she realizes that she received a message on her phone. She takes the phone from her coat pocket and sees that Rei had texted her.

 _ **You coming?**_

He was looking for her, she supposed, and it kind gave her a warm feeling to know that he was expecting her. Taking in a deep breath to brace herself what's to come, she makes her way up to the few wooden steps until she's in front of the door. The music grew louder the closer she came to the door, and she braces herself for the possible catastrophe that seems to be happening inside as she grips the door handle. And just as she was ready to pull the handle to open the door, a force not hers pushes the door towards her, and unable to react, the wooden frame hits her head and she falls back from the impact.

"Ow!" she winces, massaging the spot on her forehead through her brown beanie.

"Oh shit," says a familiar voice. "I'm so sorry, Aya!"

She looks up to see a very apologetic Yuuya towering over her small frame, and behind him was Rei looking curiously at what had just occurred. The incident, and her clumsiness, makes her blush, embarrassed at the way she made an entrance. Nonetheless, she accepts Yuuya's hand which he offers to help her get up.

"Are you okay?" Yuuya asks worriedly.

Aya smiles. "I'm fine, Yuuya. Don't worry."

Except that she winces when she touches the part of her head that made impact with the door through under her beanie. There was no wound, she figures, when she saw no blood on her fingertips, but she can feel that a bump was going to emerge soon. As she examines her own head, she doesn't see how Rei frowns at the situation before his eyes.

"I'll go get some ice inside," he says casually before making his way once again inside.

"Great idea," says Yuuya. "Here, Aya. Let's sit here while we wait for Rei." He ushers her to one of the tables outside that were unoccupied, placing down the beer he was holding on the table while he takes out a seat for Aya. "Again, I'm really sorry, Aya. Hope I didn't do some permanent damage."

She laughs lightly at the penitent man and at how guilty he looks when really, when to her no damage had been done, at least not among friends. "Yuuya, I'm fine," she says at the man protectively standing beside her. "It's probably just gonna be a small bump that'll subside in a day or two."

"Still," the blonde insists.

Just then, Rei reemerges with a towel full of small ice cubes. She smiles as he approaches and she reaches out to take the makeshift ice bag, but he ignores her hand and places the towel directly on the sore spot on her forehead, slightly sliding away her beanie for direct skin contact. The sudden feel of an icy sensation makes her wince, but she stays put.

"Thanks for getting the ice, Rei," says Yuuya.

"Hn."

A cellphone rings and Yuuya takes out his mobile device from his pocket. "I've got to take this call," he says as he makes his way down the steps of the pub and settles somewhere by the sidewalk before he picks up the phone.

Left alone, she feels his presence even more especially with the proximity between closing in with how he keeps the ice settled on her forehead. Aya doesn't know why this makes her uneasy having him this close, but at the same time she feels relieved to have him there at such an unfamiliar place with an equally unfamiliar crowd. He hasn't talked about his date since it happened, and neither did she bring it up during the times he had lunch over at her office (Tatsuki kept prying, but they've come to learn just how well Rei can ignore Tatsuki's prodding).

"So are you just naturally clumsy, or do you just have a knack for memorable entrances?" he asks jokingly (even though the evenness of his voice doesn't give it away), breaking the silence.

She blushes, a little bit embarrassed. "Would you believe if I said a little bit of both?" she tries to make light of it.

Aya sees him grin through her lashes. "I wouldn't put it past you."

There's a relief she feels when he removes the ice from her head, the cold it leaves slowly subsiding and there's numbness on the spot where the door had hit her. She rubs the spot where the ice used to be, and then pulls down the beanie to cover hear head once again.

"Better?" he asks.

She smiles at him, thankful. "Much."

"Shall we go inside? Maybe this time I open the door, yeah?" he smirks. "We wouldn't want a bump on top of that bump."

She frowns at the reminder of her clumsiness. "Fine. Go be the gentleman and open the door."

So he leads her to the entrance and opens the door for her as he promised, and she enters the pub filled with people drinking and chatting, several people dancing to the music, others were playing pool and darts, a few were keeping tabs on the score of the baseball game on the mounted television screen, and everyone was generally trying to have a good time.

"Is Miyu and Yamato here?" she inquires while they continue to make their way through the crowd following Rei's lead.

Visibly, he shakes his head. "Miyu has been under the weather lately and Yamato's out on a official business."

He doesn't see her frown as he continues to walk in front of her. "So basically I don't know anyone here. Fun."

"Well there's Yuuya," he offers consolingly. "And Ran? And me."

She raises an eyebrow he can't see. "Oh, so you're going to entertain me this whole night?"

"Of course not," he says.

And then there was that disappointing feeling again she can't quite place. If you asked her, she wouldn't be able to explain to you why she felt disappointed, only that she was. It keeps happening a lot lately with Rei like that one time a few months ago he'd cancelled on a lunch because Hana had suddenly called him up to meet, or the fact that he still hadn't taken her up on that beer.

"I have other friends too, you know," he turns to grin at her when they finally reach a free table, and she knows he can see that annoyed look she was making. "I'm just kidding. You'll be fine. Just make friends."

She takes off her coat without replying to him and places it over one of the free chairs before pulling it out so she can sit.

"Hey, I was wondering where you guys went," says a familiar voice.

"Hey, Yuuya," Aya was only too happy to say, finally another familiar person in a crowd filled with strangers.

"Hey!" calls another and they turn to the opposite direction where they see a fiery corn-haired woman approach them, pushing aside other passing pub patrons like she couldn't care less, hands up in a exaggerated waves. "Where have you—Oh, hi, Aya! I'm glad you made it."

Aya smiles and stands up to receive a very friendly hug. "Happy birthday," greets Aya, taking out an item covered in birthday wrappers and handing it over to Ran.

Ran gasps. "A gift? You shouldn't have."

"But really, she's glad you did," Rei points out.

The birthday girl glares at her friend. "You didn't need to Aya, but thank you. And weren't you supposed to come with your friend?"

"Tatsuki couldn't make it, sorry," Aya replied.

But Ran waved off her apology as if it were hanging in the air. "Don't worry about it. Be sure to enjoy yourself, okay! Rei, get her a drink!"

Aya is flustered with all the hospitality going around from people she barely knew. "It's okay, I can go down to the bartender myself—"

"What do you want?" Rei asks, unperturbed.

"Um," the events planner mumbled. "Nothing too strong, please. Maybe a cocktail?"

Rei gives a curt not and turns around toward the direction of the bar.

"So, enjoy, the drinks are free flowing until midnight. I will come back later, I just have to make my way to other guests," laughs Ran who was already making her way to some group of people over by the bar where Rei was like the busy host she was.

"I will just make a trip to the men's comfort room, okay?" says Yuuya as Aya sat down again, taking off her beanie and placing it on top of the table, as well as her purse. "I'll be quick!"

Aya nods as she watched the golden haired man make his way past the crowd to another portion of the pub she's not familiar with, disappearing as he went deeper in sight. And as soon as he's out of sight, she notices an unknown presence come up to her.

"Hey, gorgeous," a stranger says, and she turns to her side to see a blonde man, slightly older than her, lean over her chair, coming to close for comfort, in her opinion. "Need some company?"

The way his face dips closer to hers makes Aya extremely uncomfortable, and she feels the need to say something but before she can even find her voice, the stranger is pulled back by someone else.

"She doesn't need your company," says a deep voice Aya has grown accustomed to, and his arrival, a glass of her cocktail in tow, makes her feel relieved. "I think you should stop making the lady uncomfortable, buddy."

The blonde was visibly annoyed at the arrival of Rei, but he doesn't aggravate the situation, opting to move on to another possible pick-up for the night. Aya breathes out a huge breath of relief when he's gone and Rei takes his seat beside hers, putting down her cocktail in front of her.

"You must give Takato a hard time fending off those kinds of guys from you," comments Rei as he takes the beer bottle he earlier placed on the table before getting Aya a drink on the bar. "And from keeping you from getting hit by doors."

"Oddly enough, that doesn't happen quite as often as you think," admits Aya with a small smile as she takes a little sip of her cocktail.

"Which one?"

"Either!" she laughs.

"What doesn't happen often?" Yuuya asks as he resurfaces.

"Me getting hit on by people in a bar," Aya says cheekily, sipping her cocktail. "And getting hit by doors in general."

Yuuya laughs as he took his seat. "Maybe you should come to bars more often. Life seems to get pretty exciting for you."

"I'll head over there for a while," says Rei, gesturing to Ran over at the bar who was talking to a couple of her friends. "Going to some friends. You going to be alright here for a while without me?"

The question was directed to Aya. "No, go and enjoy!" she says, not wanting to be the girl he'd have to babysit all night. "I promise I'll stop being bumped by doors."

"And I'll keep her from getting hit on by random guys," smirks Yuuya, putting his arm around her shoulders in a protective manner.

Rei gives him a look, and she can't quite read it—a change in expression in his deep brown eyes when his best friend puts an arm around her. She passes it off as him being annoyed at his friend's overly playful antics.

"So, how have you been, Yuuya?" asks Aya once Rei was out of sight, turning to face the blonde for ease of conversation.

He shrugs casually. "You know the usual, been busy with work, and the wedding, and—"

"I meant," says Aya, making her voice louder to be heard over the music sung by one of the pub goers in the karaoke machine. "With her?"

He raises an eyebrow suspiciously, and a rather worried expression is painted on his face. "W-what are you talking about?"

She moves her gaze over to the corn-haired girl over at the bar chatting with Rei and two other blonde women, both of whom were shorter than Ran. He follows her gaze finally realizing whom she was referring to, and she notices the relief that overcomes him. One of the blondes had pink highlights and similar features with Ran, (she's seen her a couple of times, and remembers that it's one of the sisters of the groom, the youngest one) and the other had dirty blonde hair at shoulder length, and she notices how Rei would let his hand rest on the small of her back, listening to their conversation and laughing at the jokes Ran makes.

"I didn't know Rei liked to be surrounded by blondes." She hopes she sounded more like she's joking rather than fishing. And it look like she achieved the tone when he gives her a small snicker of approval.

"So Rei told you about her, huh?"

She shakes her head. "He doesn't need to," she says. "I also work for Miyu and Yamato, so I've heard stories."

"Ah," he says, taking a swig of his beer that she thought was his way of making it easier to talk about the topic. "It's the past, and she's moved on."

"Sometimes the past tends to haunt us," she says. "But you're avoiding her."

"No, I'm not," he tries to deny miserably, chugging down the remnants of his beer. She gives him a knowing look, and he turns to look steal a glance over where the subject of their conversation was. "Fine, maybe I am."

Aya turns as well, finding her excuse to look over the group having a conversation at the bar. The short-haired blonde now had her arm wrapped around Rei's waist, while his was over her shoulder. The woman whispers something in Rei's ears, and he grins at whatever she says. Suddenly, Aya finds her throat dry and with no more cocktail to quench it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" offers Aya finally, changing her gaze from the small group to Yuuya. "You can tell me anything."

Yuuya's eyes snap back to her. "She talked to me a couple of weeks ago. Said she had something to say," he says trying to level his voice. "Basically she told me everything she should have years ago."

"And did it help?"

He shrugs, letting his shoulders fall limply. "I made another woman mad because of it," he says with a hollow laugh. "I had this date, and she's upset I stood her up for my ex. I haven't been able to talk to her since. I think I messed it up pretty badly with her."

Wait, Aya thought. This sounded oddly familiar. Too familiar, in fact.

"Oh my god," she says suddenly. He looks at her and his reaction to her reaction made him realize that she knew. She pieced it all together. "You and Ma—"

Reaching forward to cover her mouth with his hand, he nearly topples over the beer bottles on the table. His action receives some stares from patrons around them, including some of their friends over at the bar particularly giving them a curious brow. Realizing how it all looked to others, he retracted his hand leaving a rather surprised Aya speechless. Aya did not see this coming… at all.

"You and Mami?" she asks again, this time in hushed, but pitched, tones. "Oh my god, you and Mami?"

"Okay," hushes Yuuya, his face contorted in guilt for accidentally revealing what was supposed to be a huge secret. "Stop saying it already. Yes, me and her."

Her mouth remains agape at his admission, slumping back into her seat, eyes blinking. "How long?" she finally manages to say.

Yuuya bites his cheek, considering his next words. "A few months now," he admits. "Look, it's not something I really want to talk about right now."

She watches his steal a glance over at the bar where the other four got back to their conversation. "Okay," she mumbles, watching Rei whisper something to the blonde girl wrapped around his arms and sees her laughing at whatever it was he said. "I understand."

"Anyway," says Yuuya trying to break the awkwardness that came about from the earlier topic of Mami. "You want me to get you another round of beer?"

Aya snaps her eyes back at the blonde beside her. "How about song karaoke songs?" she offers gesturing at the empty mini stage over to her right. "I heard you used to sing back in high school?"

Yuuya's face falters at the memory. "That was a lifetime ago," he says. "Plus, that mini stage is just for show. Nobody really wants to do karaoke here in front of judgmental and drunk pub patrons."

"Then how about a dance?" she asks over the upbeat country song playing in the background.

He laughs as if it's the silliest thing he's heard in his life. "Oh no, no, no. You wouldn't want me dancing."

"Why not—"

"Because his skills as a sweet talker doesn't necessarily translate to sweet moves on the dance floor," interrupts a certain brunette with a cheeky smile. He comes out from behind Aya, his own beer in his hand and bringing two more bottles with him for the other two. "Hi, I'm Masato. A friend of the Kotobuki family."

Blinking, she stares at the newly arrived Masato. "Uh, hi. I'm… Aya?"

"You're not sure?"

"Sorry," she says, shaking her head. "You surprised me."

He smiles charmingly. "Sorry about that. But nice to meet you, Aya. I've heard so many things about you from Rei."

She furrows her brows. "Have you now?"

"All good things!" Masato promises. "You're really much prettier in person, you know?"

"Ah, another charmer."

He bows his head as if he's taken back to olden times. "Now where were we at trying to convince Yuuya to dance?"

The reminder causes her to shift her gaze back to the best man who had managed to stay quiet during the whole exchange. He switches from Aya to Masato, both of whom had a mischievous glint in their eyes, worrying him. "Oh no, I know what you're planning. Nope, not going to happen."

But then a familiar track comes on, a more current and upbeat song, that they're all sure they've each heard in the radio over the past couple of months. Masato starts with small movements, swaying his torso from side to side, his movements infectious enough to cause Aya to stand from her seat and start swaying to the beat. They both hold out a hand for Yuuya who leans back on his chair, hands up in the air in defiance, but they were not taking no for an answer so they each grab an arm, pulling him off from his seat and dragging the blonde to the small space on the opposite side of the bar where a few other people they didn't know were willing to dance in public.

It starts with small steps, with Aya taking both of Yuuya's hands, alternately pulling and pushing them to the movement of her feet, swaying against they beat and completely not caring that they look absolutely ridiculous. Masato, who was dancing around them, was pulling out random dance moves from different decades that didn't match the song that was blasting through the speakers. At one point, Masato grabs Yuuya by the hips, and the latter jumps back at what he considered was an assault, and Masato forces it to sway.

"You two are being silly!" he tries to shout over the blaring sounds while he's refusing to melt into their dance moves.

But the other two were not deterred. Instead, Aya pulls Yuuya into her and she tips her toes so she can reach his ear and tells him, "The world isn't going to wait for you to get back on track and keep up, Yuuya. The world is moving on, and so should you."

Suddenly he's still, not resisting the movements but not following them either. Aya stops for a while too, giving the blonde a soft but knowing smile and a small squeeze in the hands.

"Come on, Yuuya!" urges Masato, who's now dancing behind the older blonde in an attempt to display some break dancing moves (to which other dancers around are clear to avoid). "Have fun with us!"

Aya follows up with small curl in her lip and a raise in her brow, waiting for the blonde to make his move, until finally he sighs, relaxing first his shoulders and then his back, making small movements that could, if you look closely enough, resemble the ones Masato and Aya earlier made. So Aya takes is as her cue to lift his arms as if he were a puppet, and this time there was no resistance as Yuuya made offbeat movements with his feet.

For the next few songs they dance with their uncoordinated and silly moves, not caring that most other patrons around were either amused or entertained by their lack of dancing skills. It was fine, because it seems like Yuuya was having a good time now, dancing without the need of Masato or Aya to drag him around or hold his arms. Aya considers this a victory.

"Thank you," whispers Masato when he twirls Aya, pulling him to his chest as if they were in a ballroom.

"For what?"

"For Yuuya," he answers. "I can't remember the last time he enjoyed a party without getting drunk to numb his feelings."

She smiles and he twirls her out, and she spins expecting to find Yuuya when she turns around, but then someone else grabs her hand and holds her by her waist to keep her from tumbling, and the touch is electrifying around her fingers that she wonders how she forgot, for a few minutes, that he was in the same room as she is.

"Woah there," his gravelly voice says, settling her to her feet. "You guys seem to be having a lot of fun over here."

She meets his brown gaze and his wonderfully perfect grin, and he's still holding her hand when she realizes that their faces just a few inches away from each other. He lets go of the grip on her back first once she's regained her balance, and they he releases her hand while he continues to smile at her. "I didn't know you had mad moves on the dance floor," Rei jokes.

She swallows a lump on her throat as she wipes the sweat dripping on her forehead. "A talent I reserve for a special occasion."

"And you got Yuuya to dance," he adds.

She looks over her shoulders and sees that Yuuya is sill dancing with Masato, and another blonde girl, Ran's sister, joins them. "Well, it wasn't that hard."

"I hardly believe that."

"Well, you'd be surprised at the things I can do," she says proudly.

"I'm pretty sure I will," he grins.

And they stand there awkwardly, seconds longer than she would have wanted, not knowing what to say or what to ask him next while he stands there casually, watching his friends enjoy the night.

"I should get back to my drink," she finally says, ducking to get around him and back to the table where an empty cocktail glass awaits her. He follows her, and she knows because somehow his presence is too palpable for her, and too overwhelming.

"Seems you're all out," he says when they get back to the table. "Let's go to the bar and get you another one."

The mention of the bar makes her hesitate, unsure is she wants to join the conversation composed of him, Ran and the girl he's got his arms wrapped around for almost half the time she's been there. "Um, maybe I should get going anyway," she makes an excuse that isn't really true. "I have to be somewhere early tomorrow," which wasn't a lie, she did have plans for tomorrow morning.

Rei frowns, and there was flicker in his eyes that came and went so fast she figures she must have imagined it.

"What about one last drink?" he offers instead.

"I'm not sure…"

"Just one," he insists, and he had his hand outstretched for her to take. "Come on."

She relents, and she doesn't know why she found it so hard to say no to him, not wanting to face the idea that maybe she still wants to spend some more time with him.

So they make their way to the bar, finding one empty stool which he offers to her and she takes it, letting him stand by her side. Ran and the other blonde wasn't in sight, so she figured they must have gone back to their table. He gestures the bartender, and he makes an order for each of them, not taking long for the bartender to give them their drinks. He clanks his bottle with her glass and takes a big swig while she drinks a fair amount of the sweet cocktail, feeling her chest heat up from the intake.

"So," she starts when he doesn't, tapping the glass she held in her hands. Hesitating, she blurts, "Tatsuki's going to be annoyed that he missed his chance to meet your girlfriend. Hana, was it?"

He takes another sip of his beer before answering her. "Tatsuki's too much of a gossip. That shouldn't be good for him."

She feels her world become smaller when he doesn't deny who the girl is.

She offers a weak laugh she hopes didn't sound too half-hearted, "Well, he lives for the dirty secrets." She bit her lip before asking again, "I guess that first date must have gone well seeing as how you've brought her here."

He shrugs looking at her, and she instantly regrets that she asked because she's not sure she can control the expressions she's making. "We've gone out on a couple of other dates, you know, getting to know you and all. But she's Ran's friend to begin with so," he trails, letting her fill in the blanks.

She didn't know what to say after that, so she brings her glass to her lips, taking small sips at a time, eyeing glances at him but never for too long.

"Thank you, by the way," he says.

She looks at him, finding his gaze still fixed on hers. "For what?"

"For coming," he answers simply. "I… I'm glad that I have other friends here."

She looks at him funnily, not fully understanding what he meant, but he shrugs so she doesn't ask, simply nodding instead.

"I should really go now," she finally says when she finishes her drink, wanting the awkwardness to end. She hops down the stool and starts making her way back to where she sat earlier with Yuuya to get her purse, coat and beanie, and he follows her as she does.

She slings her purse over her shoulder before putting on her coat, and finally her beanie. "Please tell Ran and the others that I went ahead," she says, turning to Rei. "Good night, Rei."

He smiles, his hands reaching out and she blushes as it closes in on her face, not knowing what he was about to do. His fingers grab the edge of her beanie, tugging it lower for her, his fingertips slightly brushing against her pale skin making her heart skip a beat where it had no business skipping. They linger on her skin for what she thinks is a couple of seconds longer than they should, but she instantly misses them when he takes his fingers back, pocketing his hands to his sides.

"Good night, Aya."

The trip back to her apartment was warm on her face, and she's sure it was because of earlier's encounter since the night air kept her hands freezing inside her coat's pockets. When she gets home, still dazed form the events of Ran's birthday, she doesn't instantly notice that Takato was there waiting for her. They've already made their apologies from their previous fight, and they've both tried to avoid the topic of Aya going back to studying.

"You're here," she says approaching him to give him a peck on the cheek. "You didn't say you were coming over."

"I was going to surprise you," he replies, his tone even. "I didn't know you went out."

She smiles, taking a seat beside him on her couch. "I was going to Yamato's sister's birthday party, remember? I told you about it last night."

"Ah," Takato says, letting Aya lean against his chest. "Right."

"Tonight was quite fun, actually. I got Yuuya to dance, and I met Masato for the first time. I also saw the girl Rei's dating. Tatsuki's gonna wish he came—"

"Tatsuki didn't come with you?"

She shakes her head from under his chin. "He couldn't. Backed out at the last minute."

She hears him sigh, but she guesses it's because he's tired. "About tomorrow's breakfast with my parents," he starts and she nods from beneath him. "Maybe we shouldn't bring up your work that much," he says, a tone of hesitance in his voice. "And maybe we shouldn't bring up about your plans to study again."

Pulling herself apart from him, she turns to face him. "Why not?" Takato's parents weren't the easiest people to deal with she had to admit. They're a bit uptight and they always had a clear plan for their son, similar to her own actually. "Are they still disappointed with my decisions?"

Takato frowns. They've had this conversation before.

"They just don't understand how you can leave such a lucrative job for whatever it is that you do," he says, and bites his tongue quickly regretting the words that come out of their mouth when they did. He sees the hurt look on her face and he sighs, fixing the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Look I'm not trying to pick a fight—"

"And yet we always seem to fight whenever you bring up my job _whatever it is_ ," she says angrily, trying to bite back the tears forming on her eyes. "I know that you're disappointed in me, I see it in your eyes _all the time_. But I thought you'd love me enough to support me."

"I do love you," he says immediately, reaching out to hold her hands and she doesn't pull away. "But you have to admit, it just doesn't seem logical that you chose to leave your job."

She clenches her fists under his touch. "It's doesn't have to make sense. I'm happy doing what I do."

Takato leans forward. "It's not always about happiness, Aya. In this day and age we also have to be practical. How am I supposed to support you when you—"

She turns her eyes to his, her cheeks red from frustration. "That!" she screams. "That's what's wrong with this whole situation. Why does your support have to be conditioned on something?" She pulls her hands away from his, and stands up pacing away from him. "If that's how you choose to support then you should just stop!"

The air is too thick for Aya, suddenly her senses were on hyper alert that even his swallows she can hear.

"You want me to stop?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she says, weariness in her voice. Her hands move to her face, pressing against her eyes and gripping her hair. "I want to you to stop."

His eyes doesn't leave her, following her movements as she falls down sitting on her calves. "You can't talk to me about it," he says softly. "But you can talk about it to _him_."

She looks up to him, narrowing her eyes. "What?"

"Rei."

"Don't do that," she says, squeezing her eyes closed. "That's not fair."

He stands up now too, walking behind the couch, leaning against its back for support. "How can I help you if you keep getting mad at me every time we try to figure out what you're going to do with your life?"

"That's the problem, Takato," she breathes out. "You think that there's a problem to fix. You think I'm a problem that you have to fix—"

"That's not true—"

"It is!" she exclaims, standing back up. Her hands run through her dark tresses in frustration. "It is," she says again, softer this time. "Do you know how hard it is to always feel like the girlfriend your boyfriend always needs to fix? You want to fix my resume. You want to fix my career. You want to fix my _life!_ It's exhausting, Takato." She holds the area in her chest just above her heart. "It's exhausting."

He stays silent after that, looking at her with examining eyes that she saw were just as weary as hers. She didn't intend to sound so mean because she knows that deep down it was not his intention to hurt her. But things have been said, and now she can't take them back.

"It's exhausting," he repeats, "being my girlfriend." It wasn't a question. It was more like a bucket of water was splashed on his face.

When she hears her words out loud again her face crumbles. "No, Takato that's not what I meant."

He shakes his head. "I think I know what you meant. I'm sorry that's how you feel."

The way his voice spoke shatters her heart. "Takato—"

"I'm going to leave now," he says and she watches him retreat toward the doow.

"Takato," she calls out wanting to take a step forward but finding herself frozen in place. Why can't she go to him? She needs to stop him, make him understand that she didn't mean what she said. "Takato, please—where are you going?"

"I'm going to give you what you want," he says without looking back. "Space."

Why wasn't she running to him right now?

She watches him reach the door and turn the know, and then he takes a step, and then another, and then another until she loses sight of his back, and all she sees is her door. _He's gone_ , she tells herself. _I made him leave_.

Tears streams down her face, and she can't seem to make them stop. Her legs gives way as if a huge boulder fell on her shoulders and she finds herself alone, trembling. She might have imagined it, because her body doesn't feel like her own at that time, but she thinks she heard herself sobbing through the night.


	10. Chapter 10: There's Nothing Else To Find

**Summary:** Not a big fan of weddings, the missing groomsman bails on his speech. The event organizer just wants her proposal. But life has other plans. [AU]

I'm back from finals with a new chapter for all of you. Thank you for those sweet reviews, I'm glad that the past chapters had given you guys some feelings, it's honestly what I aim for when I write.

Well, I guess this chapter is a big leap (i suppose it would depend on how you look at it) as regards Rei and Aya's relationship. But like I said, my aim here is to depict how a love grows, that it's not always love-at-first sight with people, and just because one relationship ends doesn't mean feelings are acted on immediately. Maybe it takes time to even identify these feelings, and maybe some more to actually accept they're there. But yeah. It's steady but it's getting there. So just hang on guys.

Sorry, there's a possibility that there's a lot of grammatical errors, I was just too eager to have it posted already when I finished this chapter. Hope you enjoy this one. Leave a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own GALS! nor any of its characters. Neither do I own the song "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse.

* * *

" _Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse_

 ** _There's Nothing Else To Find_**

* * *

"I don't know why I'm here."

"Neither do I."

"You don't know why you're here?"

Rei sighs. "I don't know why _you're_ here."

Tatsuki shrugs, pointing at the sulking Yuuya who was standing listless as the seamstress as looking at the adjustments that needed to be made on the tuxedo he was sporting, "He invited me over." The blonde takes a magazine from the coffee table looking over the catalogue of formal wear, flipping through pages before he decides that he really doesn't care. "So," he starts. "This is what you guys do for fun?"

Rei snickers at the hidden judgment in his voice. "Well, we also like to make fun of Yuuya when we can."

"Oh!" he cheers up. "I like that."

"It's usually Yamato we tease but Yuuya's been in the dumps lately so he makes it easier."

"But he's like a zombie right now," Tatsuki points out, tilting his head to the direction of the sullen groomsman. "How is that fun? Oh—oops, sorry Yamato. I didn't mean to dampen the mood of your fitting."

"Oh, it's okay, Tatsuki," says Yamato reassuringly. "I don't mind. You've become a friend to my groomsmen I've been hearing, and they only have high praises for your cooking so I can't wait for what you have prepared for the wedding. But sorry, you must be bored out of your mind since we're only fitting out tuxes for the upcoming wedding, and the groom was also being measured as he wore the almost-done white tuxedo.

"He's not the only one bored out of his mind," mutters Rei.

"Be nice," scolds Yamato.

"Uh, thanks, I guess," laughs Tatsuki nervously while he sat down on the red plush couch where Rei also sat. "But, uh," he tries to ask before shifting to a whisper. "What's wrong with him anyway?"

"He's been like that for the last few days," answers Yamato in equal whisper. "We suspect he's had quite a bit of a spat with the mystery girl he's dating."

"Oh," says Tatsuki, sitting up straight, intrigued. "A mystery girl, eh?"

If you ask his friends, they would say that they haven't seen Yuuya be so off over a girl except for Ran. It's been odd seeing so affected over a different girl—not that they didn't like it because (they won't admit it but) they are glad he's finally moving on from all his Ran-related drama. But they didn't quite expect him to slump back into dark-age Yuuya so soon after the honeymoon phase of their whirlwind relationship. Plus, they have yet to get a name and a face to this girl (and quite frankly it's driving Masato and Yamato insane).

On the other hand, Rei tries as much as possible not to meddle into his new-found love life (if it could even be considered that). "Don't try asking, we don't know who the girl is," he says.

"Ooh," he coos. "How interesting. "Oddly enough, our friend Mami is also hung up over a guy we haven't met. I haven't seen her get so affected over a guy before, but I'm not sure their relationship is working out well."

There was a brief moment, Rei notices, when Yuuya suddenly looks up to them while Tatsuki spoke, and suddenly he becomes frozen in place, swallowing hard. The groomsmen meet eye to eye, and Rei narrows his eyes at him suspiciously and it makes the other turn away as if something else had caught his attention. Was that a glimmer of guilt he saw?

"That is odd," Rei mindlessly commented, continuing to eye an elusive Yuuya.

He is taken out of his thoughts when Yamato calls him for his turn on the fitting, the oldest Kotobuki taking his spot on the plush couch. Rei stood in front of the mirror, putting on an unfinished jacket while the seamstress adjusts accordingly, taking measurements as she does so.

"Why do you keep her a secret, Yuuya?" inquires Tatsuki innocently, running out of conversation since Rei had left him on the couch with Yamato.

Yuuya groans. "It's just… complicated. Can we please just drop it?"

"Ah," Tatsuki drags out the tone. "Complicated is never good."

A frown makes its way to Yuuya's face as if offended. "That's not fair. Maybe complicated can turn out to be great, you know? Maybe those things that start out complicated will eventually make itself simple."

Tatsuki shrugs, unconvinced. "Or complicated is just complicated."

"Or, just uncomplicated it yourself," offers Rei.

The blonde groomsman sighs, letting his shoulders dip only to be scolded by the seamstress. "Like I said, it's not that simple."

"Okay, enough pressing," says Yamato who was more sympathetic to Yuuya's woes. "Why don't we get some dinner and beer after the fitting, relax a little, you know?"

"Beer sounds good," grins Tatsuki. "I'm in."

Rei raises an eyebrow. "Why are you coming again?"

"Because I'm fucking amazing to be around," boasts Tatsuki. Rei rolls his eyes. "Oh, you love me, Rei. That's why you keep coming back to the office for lunch!"

Rei grimaces. "That sounds more suggestive than it actually is."

"Plus even Yuuya comes by sometimes," notes the chef.

They stay off touchy subject for the remainder of the fitting, and when they finished they have dinner at a bar and grill nearby. They order beers, each having their own reason to consume some alcohol that night. It was Yuuya who finds himself needing the buzz more than the others, quickly consuming two bottles even before they finish the actual food, and currently almost down with his third.

Tatsuki stares at the blonde groomsman as he chugs down the remainder of the beer inside the bottle. "Woah there," says Tatsuki, equally feeling some buzz already. "That woman did a number on you, huh?"

"What?" slurs Yuuya. "No, it was probably—no wait, it is my fault. Seems like everything's my fault. I keep messing up my relationships, you know, if you can really consider this last one a relationship."

"How did it become your fault?" Yamato asks, slipping in the question innocently.

"I think she wanted like a legit relationship?"

"What's a legit relationship? Like is there an illegit one?" asks Rei sarcastically.

"You know, like really dating. Eating out in public together, holding hands—not only sex," says Yuuya uninhibited now.

"Woah woah," interrupts Tatsuki. "That seriously sound a lot like Mami's situation—you remember Mami, right, Rei?—Well, she seems to be falling for a guy who's hung up on his ex."

Rei notices how Yuuya winces again at the mention of Mami's name, making it utterly impossible for him not to make a connection now.

"But you know what, Yuuya," says Tatsuki before taking another long sip of his beer. "You should go out with Aya. I think you would be good for her." Rei has no idea why he had the sudden urge to punch Tatsuki by the arm right now, and if they weren't sitting along an island bar, he would have kicked him too. "You seem like the marrying type," Tatsuki continues. "Aya needs a marrying type."

"She has a boyfriend."

"Not anymore," frowns Tatsuki.

Rei almost spits out the beer he was drinking, but only Yamato noticed the reaction. "What's that supposed to mean?" Rei asks, a lot less calm and monotonous than he would have wanted to sound.

"You don't know?" He looks at Rei curiously. "After Ran's party almost a week ago they got into this huge fight. Blew up, I tell you," he whispers as if there are other customers interested in the conversation. "Anyway, words were said and Takato left thinking Aya needs space. They haven't spoken since then. Ugh, I don't really know what to feel about it, you know? It's like my parents split up or something, it's bothering me quite a bit more than I'd like to admit but—"

"How is Aya?" Rei cuts in on Tatsuki's seeming monologue, hoping no one would catch on his growing curiosity.

Tatsuki blinks at him, tilting his head to the side as if wondering why the answer isn't obvious to him. "Horrible," he says. "She's been in her apartment most of the time and she's a mess. She even refused my baked goods. Nobody refuses my baked goods." Rei has a sinking feeling that Tatsuki's more upset that the chef can't cheer up his friend with his pastries rather than her actual kind-of break-up.

"Are you more upset that she broke up, or that she doesn't want your goodies?" asks Rei with a raised brow.

"Ew," gags Tatsuki. "You don't say 'goodies' and 'want your' in the same sentence. It's just wrong."

But the chocolate-haired groomsman waves him off dismissively.

"So what happened between Takato and Aya?" peruses Yamato, and Rei is thankful somebody finally brings them back to the topic at hand, and likely because he didn't have to ask the question himself.

Tatsuki shrugs. "She hasn't really talked to me about it. But if I had to guess it's probably about her work, or his work. It's been a touchy subject between them as far as I can recall since Aya quit her job in the financial district." He takes a sip of his beer before continuing. "You know I used to like Takato, Mami always said there was something iffy about him. But I don't know, I used to think he was nice—I mean he is nice, but I just don't understand why he couldn't be supportive of Aya. It sucks," he mutters pouting. "What happened sucks. Sucks, sucks, sucking sucks."

"Hey, no need hold back on the profanities on our behalf," says Rei.

"Perhaps Aya should look for a pretty boy, you know?" Tatsuki ignores the joke, now blubbering. Rei never knew Tatsuki could be so unfiltered after his third bottle of beer. They all give him curious looks. "I mean, Takato had always been kind of a nerd guy—ambitious, career over anything type. Maybe what she needs is someone like you," he points out to Yamato with his beer, which surprises the older Kotobuki. "You're pretty."

"And you're drunk," Yamato counters.

"No, I'm just talkative," which was true. "As I was saying. She should get himself a pretty boy, I mean Yamato's marrying Miyu. And Yuuya, he's quite pretty too, sometimes. He seems like a loyal, gonna-marry-you type of guy. She should find guys like us, am I right?"

They laugh at everything he says, finding his good-natured humor quite entertaining and admittedly refreshing for their group.

"Are you basically saying that Aya should be with a pretty boy, and that pretty boy is you?" asks Yuuya in disbelief, finally catching up to the conversation.

"What?" Tatsuki asks, incredulous.

"I mean, sure Aya's pretty," points out Yuuya. "But I mean your friend's ex, really?"

"That's not—she's like a sister to me."

"Oh," says Yamato dryly. "Well, I didn't know sisters were your thing, but since you're not related—"

"What the fuck is happening—"

Luckily, Rei was Tatsuki's saving grace. "Alright, let's give the flustered boy a break."

"Okay, that conversation went somewhere completely off-tangent," mutters Tatsuki, reeling from the joking accusations thrown at him earlier. "My point is, maybe Aya just needs someone different."

"Who's also pretty," adds Yuuya.

"Pretty's never bad."

"Well, for what it's worth, I think you're pretty Tatsuki," says Yuuya out of nowhere. Rei gives him a look and finds his cheeks flushed from all the beer he's drank. Well, there's another guy saying things he ought not to say.

"You think I'm pretty?" repeats Tatsuki, and Rei and Yamato can't figure out why these two are so casually talking how pretty they were.

"Well," Yuuya clears his throat. "I mean, not as pretty as Rei over there, but yeah."

"So if Rei is prettier than me," Tatsuki starts and a grumble can be heard from Rei's direction. "How far behind Rei am I on your list?"

Rei looks absolutely horrified, "Why is there a list—"

"I mean, not far. But then Yamato's a strong contender. Just look at him."

"But you're saying I'm behind Rei?" asks Yamato, offended.

Rei looks at him incredulously. "Don't encourage them," he accuses.

"So what? That makes me third on your list?"

"If I'm only second to Rei on your list, then I'm not sure you should be on my list at all, Yuuya," says Yamato.

"So where am I on your list, Yamato?" asks a curious Tatsuki.

"There's not enough beer in this world to prepare me for this conversation," mutters Rei. "Can you all just stop this nonsense about a list?"

Yuuya grins, putting an arm over his best friend. "Aren't you flattered you're first on my list."

"I don't want to be on your list."

"Where am I on your list, Rei?" pouts Yuuya.

"Way, way behind me," answers Yamato.

"This is sounding way inappropriate," says Rei. "You all know the list isn't real, right?"

But then they weren't listening to him anymore, each person arguing back and forth their points on why each should be placed higher on the other's list. It wonders Rei how they even got to this imaginary list and why it was so important for them not to be on the bottom thereof when it's not like they're each other's dating prospect. Instead, he focused his thoughts on a certain raven-haired girl who, according to her best friend, had likely just ended things with her long term boyfriend. He can't help but wonder how she's doing at that exact moment.

"Rei!" a voice calls him from his thoughts, and he doesn't bother figuring out who it came from.

"Are you listening?" Now he knows the last one was Yuuya, whose mood suddenly made a one-eighty after this conversation. "Don't you think I should be higher up in Yamato's list?"

The brown-haired groomsman groans. "Can we stop it with the list? Somehow the sentiment Yuuya was trying to convey has been lost at this point. And frankly, I don't really care."

They all frown at him. "Well, someone's going one notch down from my list," pouts Tatsuki.

Rei can only roll his eyes, still unable to figure out the stupid list and whatever metaphor it was supposed to mean, if any. Instead of arguing further, he takes out his wallet from the back pocket and pulls out a few bills, placing them on the table before taking his jacket that was hanging over his chair.

"Leaving already?" asks Yamato who was still yet to finish his second bottle.

"Hn," he grumbles. "There's somewhere I have to be."

"Where's that?" wonders Tatsuki out loud, still poking his nose in other people's business as usual. "Are you meeting Hana tonight? I still haven't met her, Rei, and that's saying something considering that all of your other friends already have. I'm quite offended."

"When you're often offended about a lot of stuff, it kinda takes away from the whole point of being offended, don't you think?"

Tatsuki scrunches his face, making a weird and funny look like a child would when he's trying to understand big words. It's probably the alcohol, Rei considers. "I have no idea what you meant by that."

Rei sighs. "Nothing. Never mind. Good night."

"Make good choices!" Tatsuki manages to say, waving his beer bottle in big motions, almost spilling its contents on Yamato and Yuuya, to which Rei rolls his eyes.

Outside was cold, and it was probably because winter was soon approaching, but there was no sign of snow just yet. He takes out his phone and sees that a message had been sent to him.

 _ **Are we still on for tomorrow morning?**_

The message was from Hana. They've gone out on a couple of dates, and Ran had brought her to her party (she was originally Ran's friend, after all) thereby meeting all his friends, and he didn't find dating again so bad, much to his surprise. Although he's not sure yet about pursuing a relationship with her, he wouldn't want to close his doors either. Like what was once said to him, _everybody has their own pace_.

He finds himself closing his phone without replying to her message, and instead he hails a cab he sees coming at his direction. He gives the driver directions until they finally arrive in front of an apartment building that wasn't his own—in fact he didn't know what possessed him to come to _her_ apartment, but there he was. Rei gets off the car and makes his way to her door—7J, he remembers from the couple of times he's been over.

 _Why am I even here?_

But it's too late now because he was ringing her doorbell, unsure of what will greet him or what he'll otherwise find when the door opens. No one answers and he thinks he should consider that as a chance to back out, but his consciousness had other plans when he presses on the ringer again and he hears the resulting sound from inside. It was only then that he hears the faint sound of feet shuffling making its way to the door.

When the door opens, he is met by Aya in an old university shirt and grey jogging pants. Her hair was disheveled, and the high bun that is was in helped in no manner to hide the frizzy tangles and knots (he was afraid to guess just how long ago she last washed her hair). Her cheeks were red and her eyes were swollen and tear-stained, and she wore an expectant look when she opened the door, but it easily faded away when she saw him.

"Oh," she says, her voice crestfallen. "It's you, Rei."

"No need to get all excited for me."

She frowns, stepping aside to let him in to her equally messy apartment. Papers were everywhere as well as evidence of all the take-out she had ordered from the past few days. "Sorry. I thought you were Takato."

"I'm sorry, I'm not."

She hesitates for a moment before asking, "So if you're here at this hour then you must know what happened. Did Tatsuki tell you?"

He nods, slowly picking up the pieces of paper scattered all over the living room. He looks at one of them and sees that it's a sketch of decorations and different events with different themes. "You sketch these?"

She shrugs. "I sketch a lot when I'm stressed."

He quirks an eyebrow at her and she avoids his accusing gaze. "And the overeating of fast food?"

"That's just hunger."

"Aya," he says softly giving the apartment a once-over again. "You're a mess."

The wedding planner takes her spot at the couch, pulling her legs up against her chest and taking her sketchpad and pencil from the table. "I'm just going through something, okay? I'm allowed to be a mess and to eat an unceremonious amount of junk food while I'm at it so leave me alone."

Her words came with a sting that he didn't see coming, but he knows the act she's trying to pull. He's been there. "I know," he says with sympathy in his voice, still standing across the room, picking up pieces of trash that he passed. "But you can't keep hiding up here. You have a business to run and you have friends who are willing to help you."

"I'm not hiding," she says definitively. "I'm just staying put. Because he'll come back, right?" But Rei doesn't answer, not that he knew the answer to that question either. "So I have to stay here, so he can find me. If he comes back while I'm gone, he'll miss me. I have to stay here."

He's trying hard to find the logic in her statement, but opted not to say anything to correct her. Instead he tries a new strategy. "That makes sense," he says, trying to remove any hint of sarcasm in his voice. "But," he treads carefully this time, taking a couple of steps toward her. "Takato is a smart guy, Aya. Even if you're not here exactly in your apartment, I'm sure he'll be able to find you. He can call you after all. A pretty girl like you? He'd be crazy not to."

There's a brief moment in her eyes that he could tell he was making sense to her, so he ventures a couple of more steps until he's in front of her and he sits down on his calves, putting down the trash he's picked up on her coffee table, among boxes of pizza and bags of chips. He's kind of thankful she didn't pick up on him calling her pretty, and now he's reminded of the earlier conversation on pretty boys.

"And even if he were to find you in this apartment, is this really the sight you want him to see?"

"What are you doing here, Rei?" she finally asks, in a tone that tells him she's finally paying attention to the rest of her surroundings.

"I'm here to check up on you."

She groans tired. "I've only been like this for a few days, okay? I don't need people checking up on me every freaking hour. I've only missed a few days of work, Mami can finally handle the business for once. Tatsuki can keep his nose off my personal business for a while longer. I'm entitled to break down too. I'm entitled to feel like shit."

"They're your friends, Aya. They're only worried about you."

She closes her eyes, regretting yet again the words coming out of her mouth, like she hasn't learned from the past week.

"And you?"

Oddly, he couldn't find himself answering her question. "I've been where you were. I've hurt like you have," he deflects. Instead, he pulls himself up from his seated position and takes a spot beside her on the couch, after setting aside some of her sketches. "I know what you're going through."

"Everybody knows what a heartbreak feels like, Rei," she says, wiping a tear that fell from the edge of her eye. "But you don't know what this feels like."

"What are you talking about?"

She swallows, rubbing her face with her palms. "I said some terrible things to him."

Reaching out, he's careful to take her hand into his afraid he'll scare her. "We say some horrible things to the people we love sometimes. And they know we don't always mean it. If they love you, they'll forgive you."

She bites her lower lip, tightening her grip on his hand. "That's the thing," she says, her voice cracking. "I think I did mean it."

He doesn't say anything, knowing there's nothing he can really say to make her feel any better. He watches her take her free to press against her eyes as if doing so would stop the tears from coming out. There's this weird sensation inside his stomach, a pain he cannot yet associate with seeing her so broken, and he wishes there's something more he could do than hold her hand, and something more he can say than the silence he's offering.

"I told him," she manages to say through sniffles. "I told him it was exhausting being his girlfriend. I'm horrible, aren't I?"

There's something in him that takes him to a different point in time, to that day where he found _her_ note on their kitchen table with the words ' _I can't marry you_ ', a note that broke his heart many times over. He wonders if this what she felt—did he exhaust her too? Did she get tired being his girlfriend? Did the prospect of being his wife seem like it was going to suck the life out of her? Did she think about how much she hurt him and if she did, did she break down over it like Aya's doing now?

Maybe she did hurt to. Maybe it was just as difficult for her to make the decision that she did—throwing away a life she thought she was building with someone else. And perhaps he was too consumed in his pain to consider those things. But he'll never know, he supposes, because she's gone and he'll probably never get the explanation he deserves.

"You're not a horrible person, Aya," he says, his voice still laced with concern despite the thoughts that were running through his head. "You didn't want to deliberately hurt him. You were fighting, and you told the things you've been feeling for a long time. He can't fault you for feeling what you felt." He wonders if he meant what he said, and he thinks that he probably does. "On the bright side, you didn't leave him while you're planning a wedding and placing him in a mountain of debt."

He hears her stifle a laugh from underneath her hand.

She lets a few minutes pass between them, trying to take it all in and regain her composure (not that she had shown any since he arrived). And he waits for her in silence knowing it's probably the best thing for him to do at that moment.

"Thank you," she says softly, barely audible.

"For what?"

"Being here."

"Anytime," he says, surprising himself with such commitment, but it was too late to take it back now as she dove for his lap, laying her head on his legs like he was a pillow. He wonders what possessed her to be so audacious as to unexpectedly take advantage of a friend's generosity by sleeping on them—was she like this to all her friends? "Um, what are you doing?"

"You said you're here to comfort me," she says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Was heartbroken-Aya ever so clingy? "This is how my friends comfort me. But they're not here—Tatsuki's supposed to be at some guy's night out with you guys or something. So I guess that makes me wonder again why you're here? And Mami's doing god knows what."

He snickers. "First, I said I was here to check up on you. Second, yes, we were having drinks, and he's probably drunk right now. But I never knew you were such a clingy person."

Never being in such a precarious situation before, not even with Ran because she handled heartbreak completely differently, he's not so sure what he should be doing right now, and more importantly, where was his hand supposed to go? It's pretty awkward to just put them on his sides, and putting them over the back of the couch feels a little uncomfortable with how sunk down he was. So, with much careful thought, he decides to pat her head, like a pet, because she was lying down like a pet would.

He brushes through tangled dark locks, not to mention sticky. How did it get so sticky?

"You know," he breaks the silence. "I know that some girls have a weird penchant for the dramatics, especially over break ups—you know, making the guy see what a mess the girl's become since leaving her and all—but you should probably know, we prefer it if you could wash your hair. And probably clean up the trash too."

"Hey!" she hisses, but having no real energy to turn and face him from her position. "I'm not being dramatic—"

"Like what did you put on your hair anyway? Did you think that the soda was shampoo?"

"You called me pretty a while ago."

He scoffs. "When?"

She turns around to face him, making him uncomfortable as she changes position on his lap. "A while ago! You said Takato would be crazy not to look for a pretty girl like me."

"Well, that was before I knew your hair was mixed with glue."

She glares at him, but to him she only looks funny with her face all scrunched up, strands of hair all over her face. "Oh, you think you're hair is so nice? What's with the do anyway, are you auditioning for a Korean boy band?"

"Don't hate on the hair just because yours looks like a hurricane blew by," he retorts smugly. "And just so you know, my hair is silky smooth."

"What are you a shampoo commercial?" She hoists herself up, positioning herself so she's leaning against his chest, trying to tousle the groomsman's hair. She places both her elbows on his shoulder as she reaches, putting their faces mere inches apart, but she doesn't notice their proximity as since she's so focused on his hair, and when he finally gets a grip on them, it was exactly as how he described. "What the hell—Why is this so soft?"

He shrugs looking at her face that's so close to his, watching her gaze on the top of his head.

"What do you use on your hair?"

"Stop it," he tells, now feeling the awkwardness of the proximity.

"Do you use honey or something? Because I think I smell honey in there somewhere."

"Aya," he says with more authority.

She shifts her gaze from his head to his delicious brown eyes. "What?"

When her dark orbs finally meet his, he forgets what he has to say, and suddenly he takes particular notice of just how long her lashes are, and how round her eyes really are, things he hasn't really paid attention to before. Were her eyes this mesmerizing?

He feels his breath hitch the longer they stare at each other, until finally her elbow slips from one of his shoulders, causing her to lose balance. He immediately puts his arm around her back to steady her and he thinks that's the only time she realizes just how close he was to her face. She blushes at his touch, feeling the strong grip around the small of her back, and she puts both her hands on each of his shoulders, blinking profusely.

"Um," she mumbles, unsure what they were talking about.

But then their moment is disrupted when the door slams open.

"Aya, I'm here!" declares Mami before she takes in the sight before her.

Her surprised expression is probably enough to tell Rei just how suggestive their positions were. He sees the blush that creeps up Aya's cheeks as she turns to face her friend. She lets go of his shoulders first, and he makes sure she's steady to sit back on the couch before he lets go of his guiding hand on her back.

Aya struggles to look presentable in front of Mami whose stance has now shifted to a more maternal gesture (although there was probably no way Aya could look presentable in the state she was in).

"Mami," Aya says, finally. "I didn't think you were coming anymore."

"You're not Takato," Mami points out to Rei who was getting ready to stand up.

"Well, your friend's here now," he tells her. "I should probably get going."

Aya nods guiltily, as if she was caught doing something she shouldn't have.

"Bye, Aya," he manages to give her a small smile which she returns.

Rei makes it past the peering eyes of Mami, and out the door. He sighs when he thinks he's in the clear, mentally slapping himself for whatever it was that happened in that apartment. He scratches the nape of his neck as he continued to make his way to the elevator when he hears his name being called out. He turns around to see that Mami was trying to catch up to him.

"What?" he asks.

"Rei," Mami says, and there was something in the way she says his name that tells him she doesn't really like him. "I know that you and Aya have been friends for a while now."

He's not really liking the tone of where this was going.

"But I've known Aya for a very long time. And I may not always approve of the way Takato treats her or their relationship, but I just want you to know that starting a relationship before another has even come to a complete end is never a good start."

He shifts his footing uncomfortably, facing her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she sighs. "I mean, here you are."

"Here I am what?"

"You're _here_ , at her place, comforting her over a maybe-break-up when it's obvious that you have feelings—"

"I'll stop you right there," Rei says. "I'm just being her friend. I know what it's like to go through a bad break up. I'm just comforting her." He winces at the use of the word _comfort_ , remembering the earlier conversation.

Mami shrugs, telling him to believe what he wants to believe. "Like I said, it's never a good way to start your relationship when the other has just ended."

"Look, I don't think you're the best authority to tell me how a good start to a relationship looks like," he hisses, annoyed at the way Mami's making him feel. But then he immediately regrets making that remark.

Mami raises a perfect brow. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He sighs, he might as well spill what he thinks he knows. "You and Yuuya?"

Immediately her authoritative stance falters, and her face is flushed red. "What?" Mami stutters. "How did you—"

"I didn't," he says quickly. "Well, not really. I had an inkling. You just confirmed it for me."

Mami bit her lip, still trying to recover form the initial shock of the revelation. She looks over her shoulder to make sure Aya hasn't come out of the hallway.

"I'm not going to tell her," Rei tells Mami seeing the worried look on her face. "I'm just saying. We don't always get to control how relationships start—not that I'm starting one or will start one with Aya. I just want to point out that some relationships don't start out with the ideal."

"But that's different," she says, making Rei grow a curious look. "We're not stepping on anyone else to start a relationship—not that we're about to, anyway."

"And I'm not planning to either," Rei replies with conviction. "And just so you know, Yuuya has been really down lately. Whatever he did to you, or didn't, he seems repentant."

Mami was about to say something, but the bell signifying the arrival of the elevator just rang, and the doors had opened. Rei steps inside, and immediately presses the button to close the doors. When she's finally out of sight, he leans back against the walls of the elevator, releasing a breath he's been holding out for a while now.

 _How'd I even get into this mess?_

Suddenly being reminded of something, he takes out his phone from the pocket of his jeans, going to the messages he's left unanswered, or, rather, just one in particular. He starts to type out a reply.

 _ **yeah. see you.**_


End file.
